ACIWMEDIUM SIGNALFINANCIAL10-K

ACI Worldwide meaningfully accelerated share buybacks while managing a modest decline in operating cash flow and a notable increase in interest expense, even as net income grew and total debt was reduced.

The roughly 59% increase in share repurchases — from $127.7M to $202.6M — signals management's continued confidence in the stock and commitment to capital returns, but this is occurring alongside a 10% decline in operating cash flow ($358.7M to $322.8M), which warrants monitoring to ensure buyback activity remains well-supported by organic cash generation. The share count itself confirms the buyback activity, declining from approximately 105.3M to 101.7M shares outstanding year-over-year. Investors should watch whether operating cash flow stabilizes or continues to compress in future periods.

Comparing 2026-02-26 vs 2025-02-27View on EDGAR →
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Net income grew modestly to $226.7M from $203.1M (+11.6%), demonstrating continued underlying profitability, while total debt declined meaningfully from $924.6M to $817.6M (-11.6%), reflecting disciplined balance sheet management. However, interest expense rose notably from $53.2M to $78.5M (+47.5%), which may reflect the timing or structure of existing debt facilities rather than new leverage, and current liabilities expanded from $602.6M to $705.6M (+17.1%), a trend worth tracking for near-term liquidity implications. Overall, the financial picture is one of a profitable, cash-generative business actively returning capital to shareholders, but the simultaneous pressure on operating cash flow and rising interest costs introduce a moderate degree of caution into an otherwise constructive narrative.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT CHANGES
Share Buybacks
Cash Flow
+58.7%
$127.7M→$202.6M

Share repurchases increased 58.7% — management returning capital, signals confidence in intrinsic value.

Interest Expense
P&L
+47.5%
$53.2M→$78.5M

Interest expense surged 47.5% — significant debt increase or rising rates materially impacting earnings.

Current Liabilities
Balance Sheet
+17.1%
$602.6M→$705.6M

Current liabilities rose 17.1% — increased short-term obligations, watch current ratio.

Net Income
P&L
+11.6%
$203.1M→$226.7M

Net income grew 11.6% — bottom-line growth signals improving overall business health.

Total Debt
Balance Sheet
-11.6%
$924.6M→$817.6M

Debt reduced 11.6% — deleveraging strengthens balance sheet and reduces financial risk.

Operating Cash Flow
Cash Flow
-10%
$358.7M→$322.8M

Operating cash flow softened — monitor whether temporary working capital timing or structural deterioration.

LANGUAGE CHANGES
NEW — 2026-02-26
PRIOR — 2025-02-27
ADDED
As of February 23, 2026, there were 101,719,981 shares of the registrant s common stock outstanding.
Target Markets ACI s comprehensive digital payment solutions serve three key markets: Banks, Intermediaries, and Merchants ACI provides payment solutions to large and mid-sized banks globally for both retail banking, digital, and other payment services.
FedNow Services and RTP from The Clearing House, the UK Faster Payments, European TIPS, Australia NPP, South Africa RPP, the Payments Network Malaysia ("PayNe"), Real-time Retail Payments Platform ("RPP"), and others.
Our solutions enable these customers to support a wide range of payment channels and types as well as provide a convenient consumer payments experience that helps billers optimize growth and operational efficiencies while improving customer experience.
We also provide advanced fraud protection services to our biller customers, leveraging our proven AI, human, and data analytics capabilities.
Solutions ACI is a global software company that delivers intelligent payments orchestration to banks, merchants, and billers.
ACI Connetic brings a modern, flexible payment solution to the market that enables banks and intermediaries to build and intelligently orchestrate payment services, offering a unified ecosystem built on modern technology with a financial institution's future in mind for processing, routing, and managing multiple payment types across diverse networks and channels.
Account-to-Account Real-Time Payments ACI Account-to-Account Payments' capabilities cover real-time payments, ACH, Real-Time Gross Settlement ("RTGS"), and cross-border solutions.
ACI real-time payments provides connectivity to instant payment rails, including origination, processing, orchestration, clearing and settlement, and fraud detection, and connectivity.
The solution enables banks and intermediaries to connect to global real-time payment schemes and deliver value-added services to their customers.
REMOVED
As of February 24, 2025 , there were 105,336,028 shares of the registrant s common stock outstanding.
Target Markets ACI s comprehensive digital payment solutions serve three key markets: Banks ACI provides payment solutions to large and mid-size banks globally for both retail banking, digital, and other payment services.
Faster Payments, European TIPS, Australia NPP, South Africa RPP, the Payments Network Malaysia ("PayNet"), Real-time Retail Payments Platform ("RPP"), and others.
Our solution and products enable these customers to support a wide range of payment options and provide a convenient consumer payments experience that drives consumer loyalty and increases revenue.
We also provide fraud abuse protection to our biller customers leveraging our proven AI, human, and data capabilities.
Solutions ACI is a global software company that provides mission-critical, real-time payment solutions that deliver intelligent payments orchestration to banks, merchants, and billers.
ACI Enterprise Payments Platform is a market-leading technology that provides payment players global payment processing and orchestration capabilities for all digital payments, including high- and low-value payments, real-time and alternative payments, and cards.
Account-to-Account Payments ACI supports account-to-account payment processing for banks and intermediaries globally, ensuring multi-bank, multi-currency, and 24x7x365 payment processing capabilities, as well as complete and ongoing regulatory compliance.
Offered to the market in several forms, the ACI account-to-account payments capability enables banks to process all types of digital payments with a specific focus on two key growth areas for digital payments: Support for domestic low-value real-time payments with a complete range of capabilities for 24x7x365 processing of real-time payments, including origination, orchestration, clearing and settlement, fraud detection, and connectivity.
Support for high-value and cross-border payments offering multi-bank, multi-currency, and wire and Real-Time Gross Settlement ("RTGS") payment processing capabilities, as well as cross-border and domestic SWIFT messaging with seamless integrations to multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms.
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