Payments & FinTech: Payment Due

Research evidence excerpt

Payments & FinTech: Payment Due

Deutsche Bank

Research

Europe Industry Date

France 23 July 2026

Italy Payments & FinTech

Netherlands Forecast Change

Technology

Payments & FinTech

Payment Due

Nooshin Nejati

Cash is king again Research Analyst

The Q2 reporting season begins against a challenging backdrop for the sector. +49-69-910-61797

Following the unwind of the AI trade, Adyen has been the clear underperformer,

Johannes Schaller

suffering the largest and most prolonged sell-off in the company's history. While we Associate Director of Equity Research - Germany

believe the weakness has been partly driven by broader AI-related positioning, the +49-69-910-31731

sell-off also reflects rising investor concerns around competition, pricing pressure

Kunal Gupta

and the risk of payment processing becoming increasingly commoditized. The

Research Associate

sharp derating suggests the market is questioning not growth, but the durability of

economics. In contrast, Nexi remains the only stock in our coverage that has

delivered relative stability YTD. To us, the divergence highlights a market Nicolas Herms

increasingly rewarding visible cash generation and shareholder returns over Research Analyst

+49-69-910-13052

longer-duration growth narratives. In the current environment, growth remains

important, but cash returns appear to be the more reliable support for valuations. Yusuf Jamal

Fundamentally, the backdrop remains stable. European retail sales and consumer

spending indicators point to continued growth in payment activity, albeit at a slower

pace than earlier in the year. As a result, we expect a broadly healthy quarter for the Key Changes

sector, with few surprises at the industry level and the focus instead shifting to Company Target Price Rating