Discover financial services‘ (DFS – Free Report) payment brand Discover Global Network recently partnered with vendor management platform provider TYDEi Health to build a solution to facilitate payments for healthcare purchases.
Shares of Discover Financial fell 0.7% on Oct. 5, mirroring declines in broader markets.
The TYDEi platform serves as a connection point between hospitals and suppliers for purchases made by hospitals. The healthcare purchasing process is simplified as the platform moves the procurement process to a blockchain-enabled platform that minimizes cost and risk for hospitals.
The partnership with Discover Financial’s payment brand is expected to help TYDEi’s payment platform extend a seamless and secure digital payment facility to hospitals, which can also monitor payments made for supplies. It’s all possible with Discover Financial’s enhanced payment solutions.
The ulterior motive of the recent tie-up is the digitization and simplification of payments in the healthcare industry which continues to face headwinds resulting from the use of manual paper checks in the purchasing process. Therefore, the partnership seems timely to counter the wasted time and inefficiencies related to healthcare billing through improved solutions. Moreover, the alliance is timely given the widespread infusion of digitalization in all spheres of life.
Management at Lighthouse Surgery Center, one of the immediate beneficiaries of the recent collaboration using the TYDEi platform, believes that TYDEi’s partnership with Discover Global Network will greatly benefit their system and productivity. Afterwards, it could be relieved of its outdated and cumbersome purchasing, supply chain and inventory management systems.
The latest initiative highlights Discover Financial’s concerted efforts to leverage its advanced payment solutions to penetrate a broad healthcare payments industry. In addition to healthcare catering, Discover Global Network works to facilitate payments for various industries, such as transportation, higher education, government, insurance, and gaming.
Partnerships like the one with TYDEi can only add to the strength of the Discover Global Network, which contains a large cardholder base of over 280. The network has over 60 million merchant acceptance points and 1, 8 million ATM and cash access sites. It also includes Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and a global network of alliance partners, with a strength of over 25.
Shares of Discover Financial have lost 11.5% over the past six months, compared to 19.4% for the sector.
Image source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks ranking and key picks
Discover Financial currently carries a Zacks rank of #3 (Hold). Some top-ranked stocks in the financial space are Bank First Corporation (CFB – free report), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY – free report) and First Business Financial Services, Inc. (FBIZ – free report). While Bank First carries a Zacks rank #1 (strong buy), Cathay General and First Business Financial currently carry a Zacks rank #2 (buy). You can see the full list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Bank First’s earnings beat estimates in three of the past four quarters and missed the mark once, averaging 2.25%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for BFC’s earnings in 2022 suggests a 9.1% improvement, while the same for revenue suggests 13.1% growth from corresponding figures released a year ago. . BFC’s earnings consensus mark for 2022 has moved north 1% in the past 30 days.
Cathay General’s net income has exceeded estimates in each of the past four quarters, averaging 3.88%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for CATY’s earnings in 2022 suggests a 24% improvement, while the same for revenue suggests 19.5% growth from corresponding figures released a year ago. CATY’s earnings consensus mark for 2022 has moved north 0.4% in the past 60 days.
Earnings at First Business Financial have exceeded estimates in each of the past four quarters, averaging 21.61%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for FBIZ earnings in 2022 suggests a 3.8% improvement, while the same for revenue suggests 9.2% growth over the corresponding figures for the previous year. FBIZ’s earnings consensus mark for 2022 has moved north 4.1% in the past 60 days.
Shares of First Bank and First Business Financial have gained 9.9% and 4.1% respectively over the past six months. However, Cathay General stock lost 3.7% over the same period.
