Hold on to these two tech leaders

Article Excerpt

ACI WORLDWIDE $23.26 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (402-390-7600; www.aciworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 116.4 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; No dividends paid) makes software for processing transactions by credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank systems. Its products also work to cut fraud. The company’s more than 5,100 customers include 1,000 global financial institutions and thousands of retail giants. Altogether, they process $14 trillion in payments a day. In the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the company’s sales fell 9.6%, to $209.3 million from $231.5 million a year earlier. That was mostly due to delays in closing some contracts. ACI lost $0.17 a per share, compared to a loss of $0.01. The bigger loss came mostly from the lower sales. Recurring revenue adds stability ACI continues to shift from the one-time sale of software to “software as a service.” Under this subscriber model, clients access its computer programs online using remote, secure webservers. The transition hurts the company’s near-term sales, but provides…