NOVA Corporation

(This article originally appeared in the The Motley Fool's Evening News on Tuesday, April 08, 1997)

HEROES

NOVA CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: NIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: NIS)") end if %> moved up $1 3/4 to $18 7/8 after announcing an acquisition that will add about 15% to its annual transaction volume. The company said it has reached an agreement with bank holding company CRESTAR FINANCIAL <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CF)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CF)") end if %> to acquire that company's merchant transaction processing business, adding 11,000 merchant locations to NOVA's client list. Last year, NOVA processed $11.9 billion of VISA and MasterCard purchases -- this additional business adds $1.8 billion in volume. NOVA came public last year and has seen its share price struggle even as annual revenues grew from $129 million in 1995 to $266 million in 1996. That has been somewhat diluted by the additional shares from the IPO -- earnings per share (EPS) stayed about level around $0.25 year-over-year. However, the company has used over $30 million to retire debt and preferred stock, and has only taken on $4 million in short-term debt in that period.

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