At a glance
ACI Worldwide Inc is worth $5.57B, about 26 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 10.4% to $1.76B in fiscal 2025, with 12.9% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 6.3% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $671.8M buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +11.0% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +12.2% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 37.7% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 42.3% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 8 months and 19 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
ACI Worldwide makes software that moves electronic payments and checks them for fraud. Customers include banks of all sizes, central banks, payment processors and networks, fintech (financial technology) firms, merchants, and billers such as utilities, insurers, lenders, and healthcare providers. Its software handles the behind-the-scenes steps of a payment, including approval, routing, settlement, and fraud screening, around the clock. ACI says its merchant platform serves more than 80,000 merchants, including seven of the top 10 retailers globally.
ACI reports two segments. In fiscal 2025 (the year ended December 31, 2025), revenue was about $1.76 billion, up 10.4%. Payment Software brought in 53.5%. It serves banks, merchants, and intermediaries such as payment processors. The Biller segment brought in 46.5%. It sells electronic bill presentment and payment services, such as its Speedpay ONE platform, that let consumers view and pay bills online.
Revenue comes from several sources. In fiscal 2025, bill payment services made up 46.5%, software licenses 26.2%, maintenance (ongoing support and updates) 11.4%, real-time payments 7.9%, services 5%, and payments intelligence (fraud tools) 3%. Customers can run ACI's software on their own systems under a term license, use it as an online service hosted in the cloud, or combine both. The United States supplied 57.6% of revenue and other countries 42.4%.
Price history
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ACIW +11.0% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By product or service
| Bill Payments | $817.7M | 46.5% |
| License | $461.5M | 26.2% |
| Maintenance | $201.3M | 11.4% |
| Real-Time Payments | $138.3M | 7.9% |
| Services | $88.5M | 5% |
| Payments Intelligence | $53.3M | 3% |
By business segment
| Payment Software | $942.1M | 53.5% |
| Biller | $817.7M | 46.5% |
By geography
| United States | $1.01B | 57.6% |
| Other | $745.6M | 42.4% |
Latest results
- In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $430.4M, up 7.3% from a year earlier, and net income was $31.8M (+160.6%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $1.76B (+10.4% year over year; +6.3% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 12.9% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +6.3% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 18.7% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 17.6% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 14.9% watch |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 7.3% watch |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-654.8M weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $1.29B | $72.7M | $297.1M |
| FY2021 | $1.37B | $127.8M | $199.9M |
| FY2022 | $1.42B | $142.2M | $130.3M |
| FY2023 | $1.45B | $121.5M | $159.6M |
| FY2024 | $1.59B | $203.1M | $343.3M |
| FY2025 | $1.76B | $226.7M | $309.9M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $5.57B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 25.6 |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
ACI Worldwide’s market value went from $2.13B at the end of 2016 to $5.57B on Oct 28, 2026, about 2.6 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 13%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $5.57B | +13.1% |
| 2025 | $4.93B | -9.5% |
| 2024 | $5.44B | +63.7% |
| 2023 | $3.33B | +28.7% |
| 2022 | $2.58B | -36.6% |
| 2021 | $4.08B | -9.1% |
| 2020 | $4.49B | +2.5% |
| 2019 | $4.38B | +36.5% |
| 2018 | $3.21B | +19.4% |
| 2017 | $2.69B | +26.3% |
| 2016 | $2.13B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACIW price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +15.5% | +11.0% | +40.9% | +12.2% | +11.6% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +15.5% |
| 2025 | -7.9% |
| 2024 | +69.6% |
| 2023 | +33.0% |
| 2022 | -33.7% |
| 2021 | -9.7% |
| 2020 | +1.4% |
| 2019 | +36.9% |
| 2018 | +22.1% |
| 2017 | +24.9% |
| 2016 | -15.2% |
| 2015 | +6.1% |
| 2014 | -6.9% |
| 2013 | +48.8% |
| 2012 | +52.5% |
| 2011 | +6.6% |
| 2010 | +56.7% |
| 2009 | +7.9% |
| 2008 | -16.5% |
| 2007 | -41.5% |
| 2006 | +13.1% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 23.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 65.1%, back to its old high 24.2 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 36.8% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 37.7%, back to its old high 7.8 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 38.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 42.3%, back to its old high 19.2 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 0 sales ($0.00).
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 15.4% | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 8.02% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Franklin Resources, Inc. | 6.5% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| FMR LLC | 6.4% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.23% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC | 3.6% | Sep 30, 2024 |
ETFs with the most weight in ACIW
| PSCT Invesco S&P SmallCap Information Technology ETF | 3.96% |
| IPAY Amplify Mobile Payments ETF | 3% |
| XSMO Invesco S&P SmallCap Momentum ETF | 1.98% |
| FINX Global X FinTech ETF | 1.44% |
| CAFG Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders ETF | 1.38% |
| NIXT Research Affiliates Deletions ETF | 1.19% |
| HAPS Harbor Human Capital Factor US Small Cap ETF | 1.13% |
| TAX Cambria Tax Aware ETF | 1.11% |
What could go wrong
- Bound by regulators' consent orders. ACI settled investigations by state and federal regulators and agreed to consent orders, which set conditions it must meet. Breaking those terms could bring further, more significant enforcement actions.
- Customers may be slow to adopt Connetic. ACI Connetic is its newer platform for banks to process and route many payment types. If customers adopt it more slowly than expected, results could suffer. Potential customers are often reluctant to switch vendors.
- Outages or cyberattacks on payment systems. ACI's systems process payments around the clock, partly on third-party cloud services. An outage or cyberattack could interrupt service, lead to customer claims and refunds, and damage its reputation.
- Lumpy quarterly results. Many revenue-generating deals close in a quarter's final weeks, so revenue and earnings can swing sharply. One delayed deal can mean a missed forecast and a falling share price.
- Debt limits flexibility. As of June 30, 2026, ACI had about $822 million of debt against $167 million of cash and investments. Loan covenants (lender rules) restrict how it operates, and it may borrow more.
- Larger rivals and fewer bank customers. Many competitors are much larger, and some customers build payment software themselves, which could force price cuts. Bank mergers and failures can also reduce ACI's number of customers and its revenue.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released; Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
For income and retirement investors
ACI Worldwide paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025 and had no dividend yield as of October 28, 2026, so the stock offers no regular income. An investor who needs cash from it would have to sell shares. Instead, ACI returns cash through buybacks (repurchases of its own stock). It spent about $672 million on buybacks over those five fiscal years, including $203 million in fiscal 2025. Free cash flow (cash left after business spending) was about $310 million that year. Shares outstanding fell 14.1% from November 2, 2021 to August 3, 2026.
The stock has fallen sharply in downturns. It dropped 65.1% from October 2007 to October 2008 and took about 24 months from that low to recover. It fell 37.7% in the 2020 COVID crash and recovered in about eight months. In the 2022 bear market it fell 42.3% and needed about 19 months to recover. Single stocks carry more risk than diversified funds.
Questions investors ask
How does ACI Worldwide make money?
ACI makes money by selling and running payment software for banks, merchants, and billers. In fiscal 2025, revenue was about $1.76 billion. Bill payment services for utilities, insurers, lenders, and other billers brought in 46.5%. Software licenses added 26.2%, maintenance 11.4%, real-time payments 7.9%, services 5%, and payments intelligence (its fraud tools) 3%. Customers can install the software on their own systems or use it through the cloud. About 57.6% of revenue came from the United States.
Does ACI Worldwide pay a dividend?
No. ACI Worldwide paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025 and had no dividend yield as of October 28, 2026. Instead, it returns cash through share buybacks and spent about $672 million on them over those five fiscal years. Buybacks helped shrink the share count by 14.1% between November 2, 2021 and August 3, 2026, but they do not provide regular income. An investor who needs cash flow from this stock would have to sell shares.
What is ACI Worldwide's P/E ratio?
It was about 25.6 as of October 28, 2026, based on fiscal 2025 earnings. A price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio shows how many dollars investors pay for each dollar of yearly profit. On that date, ACI's market value was about $5.6 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $2.16 in fiscal 2025, up from $0.62 in fiscal 2020, and net income rose 11.6% in fiscal 2025. This measure is worth comparing with other payment software companies.
How has ACI Worldwide stock performed?
It has gained over longer periods, with large swings along the way. As of October 28, 2026, the share price was up 11% over one year. It averaged gains of 40.9% a year over three years, 12.2% a year over five years, and 11.6% a year over ten years. Calendar years vary widely: the stock rose 69.6% in 2024 but fell 33.7% in 2022 and 7.9% in 2025. In the year to October 28, 2026, it fell as much as 24% from a peak.
How much debt does ACI Worldwide have?
ACI had about $822 million of total debt as of June 30, 2026. It also held about $167 million of cash and investments, which leaves net debt of about $655 million. Shareholders' equity was about $1.5 billion. For scale, the company produced about $310 million of free cash flow in fiscal 2025. ACI's 10-K warns that its loan agreements include covenants (lender rules) that limit its flexibility, and that it could still take on substantially more debt.