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ACIW

9/9 Score

ACI Worldwide, Inc.

Analysis Date: February 2, 2026

ACI Worldwide, Inc., a software company, develops, markets, installs, and supports a range of software products and solutions for facilitating digital payments to banks, merchants, and billers worldwide. The company offers ACI Acquiring, a merchant management system to deliver digital innovation, improve fraud prevention, and reduce interchange fees; ACI Issuing, a digital payments issuing solution; and ACI Enterprise Payments Platform that provides payment processing and orchestration capabilities for digital payments. It also provides ACI Low Value Real-Time Payments, a platform for processing real-time payments; and ACI High Value Real-Time Payments, a payments engine that offers multi-bank, multi-currency, 24x7 payment processing, and SWIFT messaging. In addition, the company offers ACI Omni Commerce, a scalable, omni-channel payment processing platform; ACI Secure eCommerce solution; ACI Fraud Management, a real-time approach to fraud management; ACI Digital Business Banking, a cloud-based digital banking platform; and ACI Speedpay, an integrated suite of digital billing, payment, disbursement, and communication services. The company offers electronic bill presentment and payment services to consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, and mortgage sectors; implementation services, including product installations and configurations, and custom software modifications; and business and technical consultancy, on-site support, product education, and testing services, as well as distributes or acts as a sales agent for software developed by third parties. It markets its products under the ACI Worldwide brand. The company was formerly known as Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. and changed its name to ACI Worldwide, Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Coral Gables, Florida.

Buffettology Criteria

All 9 of 9 criteria passed

  • High ROE

    Return on Equity > 12%

    Value: 18.1%

  • High ROIC

    Return on Invested Capital > 9%

    Value: 11.3%

  • Cash Machine

    FCF / Assets > 5%

    Value: 11.3%

  • Fair Valuation

    Earnings Yield > 3.5%

    Value: 6.2%

  • Share Buybacks

    Share Count is Dropping

    Value: -2.8%

  • Defensible Moat

    Gross Profit Margin > 40%

    Value: 49.7%

  • Simple Business

    Not in a speculative sector (e.g., Biotech)

    Value: Technology

  • Conservative Debt

    Debt to Equity < 1.5

    Value: 0.62x

  • Consistent Growth

    5-Year Growth is Positive

    Value: 233.6%

Analysis Summary

This ACIW appears to be a promising prospect, checking all nine of my boxes. I particularly like the strong ROE and ROIC, which suggest efficient capital deployment, and the solid 48.3% figure for the defensible moat, indicating a company with staying power in its industry. While the consistent growth is modest at 2.3%, the totality of the metrics points towards a company with sound fundamentals and a potentially durable competitive advantage.

Latest Posts

The Payments Stock That Checks Every Buffett Box: ACI Worldwide's Perfect 9/9

February 9, 2026

ACI Worldwide scores a perfect 9/9 on Buffett's framework — but with the stock down 21% from its highs, is this payments infrastructure veteran a hidden gem or a value trap?

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