Fiserv bets on payment tech, AI to drive recovery

• Key insight: Fiserv reported declines in revenue, but said its recovery plan is showing signs of progress. 
• Expert quote: “Fiserv delivered a better-than-expected quarter against a backdrop of tempered expectations and low investor confidence.” ——analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods

While many of Fiserv’s performance numbers fell during the third quarter compared to 2025, the company reported progress in its recovery from a recent earnings slump as it charts an AI-heavy path forward. 

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“Our third quarter performance was in line with our expectations, including a return to organic revenue growth in financial solutions,” said Chief Financial Officer Paul Todd in a statement that accompanied the company’s third-quarter earnings. “Our second-half initiatives are on track to support the revenue acceleration we expect in the fourth quarter, and we are reaffirming our full-year guidance.”

Fiserv’s third-quarter earnings, which included discussion of an expanded Clover point of sale system and new agentic AI tools for banks, came amid a tumultuous time for the company, which has changed leadership and examined its business to ferret out low-growth products for most of the past year. 

Fiserv’s third quarter

The company’s performance suggests continued declines, but with stabilization and a path to faster growth, according to its management. 

The company reported a net loss of $5.94 billion, or $11.17 per share, which included a goodwill-impairment charge of $6.45 billion. Analysts at KeyBanc Capital Markets said the charge was “related to lower company market capitalization,” noting that no specific business line was noted in Fiserv’s initial release. Excluding the charge, the company reported operating earnings of $1.75 per share, even with a projection from Zacks Investment Research. Revenue fell 1% to $5.2 billion.

Processing and service revenue was $4.23 billion, down from $4.27 billion a year ago.. Product revenue slipped to$965 million from $990 million . Third quarter adjusted operating income was $1.51 billion, a decrease from $1.82 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue dipped 3% in the Merchant Solutions segment, which includes Fiserv’s Clover point of sale system; and was flat in the Financial Solutions segment.

Fiserv reaffirmed its full year guidance for adjusted EPS off $7.20-$7.40 and organic revenue growth of -1% to 0%. It also expects total reported Clover revenue to return to double-digit revenue growth in the fourth quarter. “Our team is executing with urgency, and we are seeing meaningful progress,” said CEO Takis Georgakopoulos during Fiserv’s earnings call on Tuesday morning, adding net attrition in banking is down more than 25% year to date and “major client wins” are now ramping. “Clover continues to produce consistent underlying growth, and our modern merchant platform is gaining momentum.”

Sensing progress, Fiserv’s stock price rose more than 10% Tuesday, though it has dropped more than 10% over the past 12 months and 41% over the past five years.

“Fiserv delivered a better-than-expected quarter against a backdrop of tempered expectations and low investor confidence,” analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods said in a research note.

What Fiserv is doing

Part of Fiserv’s turnaround strategy is a cost-cutting program called Project Elevate, a two-year program that includes embedding AI into its business to speed development while cutting unnecessary work. Elevate is showing results, according to Fiserv, enough to boost its originate savings target from $500 million to $1 billion, though it said these savings would not show up until future quarters. “We’re focusing on embedding AI in all workflows,” Georgakopoulos said. “This affects every aspect of our business and goes beyond the original scope of Elevate.” 

As an example, Georgakopoulos said Fiserv has consolidated all value-added services under a new global gateway. It has also added AI to simplify onboarding for clients that are migrating to Fiserv. It also has expanded use of agentic AI in call centers and is using AI to accelerate new code programming.

The technology vendor is also targeting increased usage of AI outside of the company. Fiserv’s agentic AI product for banks has 200 institutions in the pipeline, with additional availability expected for 2027. The current clients are experimenting with agentic AI with simple use cases that will get more complex over time, according to Georgakopoulos. Part of Fiserv’s recovery is discontinuing low-growth services. Fiserv earlier this year conducted a review of its business, partly in an effort to exit smaller non-core products that serve “very few clients,” according to Georgakopoulos. The company has identified more than a dozen of these products. 

The technology company has already completed parts of its reorganization. During the third quarter, Fiserv completed the sale of its student-loan-servicing business and the formation of its MoneyPass Group joint venture, which comprises MoneyPass Network, ATM Managed Services and Cash Intelligence businesses.

On the merchant side, Fiserv plans to launch a version of Clover for larger enterprises in 2027. Clover has also been improved to make it easier for clients to scale the product as they grow.  

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“This expansion enables Clover to go beyond small business to sell to larger merchants with multiple locations, bridging a key gap in Clover’s reach,” Georgakopoulos said.
Overall, the reaffirmation of Fiserv’s full-year outlook and a step-up in Project Elevate savings target to $1 billion are clear positives and suggest improving confidence in the company’s execution, according to Keefe Bruyette & Woods analysts. “The key question is whether the underlying improvement is sustainable and can support the acceleration implied in the fourth quarter.”