oct 6 Yahoo Biz:
One of the best businesses to be in right now is the processing of electronic payments. Heartland Payment Systems happens to be in the business of providing such services to U.S. merchants. At the end of 2008, the company had over 165,000 smaller merchants' accounts and 82 large accounts, with over 500,000 locations between them. All together, Heartland processes over 100 million transactions on a monthly basis. The company got hit by hackers in one of the largest data breaches ever earlier this year, and this has weighed on earnings as well as the stock price. In the second quarter, Heartland took a $19 million charge to account for claims and legal fees as a result of the breach. In spite of this setback, it's a great business to be in, and Heartland might be a cheap way to enter the field. The stock trades at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.33. I think the stock is a little rich on an EV/EBITDA basis, with a ratio of 6.5, but if it were to fall back below a 5 ratio, I think it becomes a very attractive takeover candidate.


Just my opinion