Stocks showed a strong push to begin a shortened first week to the new year, with a relative strong performance among winners outpacing declining issues. One company had double-digit percentage returns, and several had high single-digit percentage returns, while companies that lost ground did so only at a percent point or so.
The leader among winning names was USA Technologies, which saw 10.7 percent to the upside to the week. That translated to a half-dollar’s gain in the stock. As noted last week, the firm said it had expanded its partnership with Apple wherein the former’s loyalty and payroll deduct program is being rolled out with Apple Pay at 300,000 machines across the U.S.
In news of another pact that helped drive shares higher for a payments-related name, Mitek said last week that its mobile deposit and MiSnap products are being licensed into the American Cancer Society’s mobile fundraising app. That news helped bring Mitek shares ahead by 9 percent for the week.
Following on the heels of that rally was Square, which gained 8 percent during a time where no company specific news debuted, but where Motley Fool, the stock investing website, said that the company is innovating the payments landscape in several ways.
Looking at the firms that lost some value on the public markets on the week, Cardtronics slipped by 2 percent, with the headlines last week centering around the disclosure that its chief information officer, Mike McCarthy, would be leaving the firm via planned retirement. At the same time, the firm also said last week that it had completed its buy of Canada’s DirectCash Payments ATM and card services provider.
Looking into the first trading hour of a new week, names were slightly lower as tracked by PYMNTS.
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