Global Payments Inc. GPN reported second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.04, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.9%. The bottom line surged 56% year over year.Adjusted net revenues of $1.9 billion improved 28% year over year in the second quarter. The top line beat the consensus mark by 4.8%.Adjusted operating margin improved 480 basis points (bps) year over year to 41.8% in the quarter under review.The company’s results hint toward growing revenues, courtesy of strong segmental contributions across its Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions units. However, escalating operating costs partly dampened the company’s bottom-line growth.Total operating expenses of $1.8 billion climbed 13.5% year over year due to higher cost of service, and increased selling, general and administrative costs.Global Payments Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Global Payments Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Global Payments Inc. QuoteSegmental PerformancesMerchant Solutions: The segment reported adjusted revenues of $1.3 billion, which climbed 42.3% year over year. Operating income of $624.7 million soared 68.2% year over year.Issuer Solutions: Adjusted net revenues improved 7.8% year over year to $446.4 million. Operating income of nearly $196 million advanced 10.6% year over year.Business and Consumer Solutions: Adjusted net revenues of this segment amounted to $227.4 million, which rose 4.9% year over year. However, operating income of $61.2 million slumped 12.7% year over year.Balance Sheet Position (as of Jun 30, 2021)Global Payments exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.8 billion, which fell 7.5% from the level at 2020 end.Long-term debt of $10.2 billion increased 20.7% from the 2020-end level.For the six months ended Jun 30, 2021, net cash provided by operating activities grew 15.6% from the prior-year comparable period to $1.1 billion.Share Repurchase and Dividend UpdateThe company’s board of directors has enhanced its share repurchase authorization to $1.5 billion.Concurrently, management approved a 28.2% hike in the quarterly dividend based on which the company will now pay out a dividend of 25 cents per share compared with the prior payout of 19.5 cents. The increased dividend will be paid on Sep 24, 2021 to shareholders of record as on Sep 10.Business UpdateGlobal Payments recently agreed to purchase the payments businesses of Bankia from its CaxiaBank’s partners. The move will strengthen the European footprint of Global Payments.The company inked a new partnership with Amazon Web Services as a result of which unique distribution and innovative technologies will be offered at Netspend, a Global Payments company.The company completed the buyout of the leading software and payments technology company Zego, which is expected to bolster the former’s presence across the real estate platform.2021 GuidanceBased on strong second-quarter results and favorable business trends, Global Payments revised its 2021 outlook with respect to adjusted net revenues and adjusted EPS.The company now projects adjusted net revenues to be $7.70-$7.73 billion for this year, up from the previous guidance of $7.550-$7.625 billion. The newly provided outlook indicates 14-15% growth from the 2020 reported figure.Adjusted EPS is anticipated to lie within $8.07 and $8.20, up from the prior view of $7.87-$8.07. The new guidance suggests 26-28% improvement from the year-ago reported figure.Zacks RankGlobal Payments currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Other Financial Transaction Services Industry ReleasesSome other companies in the financial transaction services space that have already released June-quarter results are Mastercard Incorporated MA, Visa Inc. V and Equifax Inc. EFX, which beat earnings estimates by 13.37%, 12.03% and 15.79%, respectively. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V): Free Stock Analysis Report Equifax, Inc. (EFX): Free Stock Analysis Report Global Payments Inc. (GPN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research