Why CPI Card Group Stock Popped Today

By Rich Smith – Mar 5, 2026 at 12:16PM ESTKey PointsCPI Card stock beat on sales but missed on earnings this morning.Free cash flow soared 21% year over year in 2025.CPI Card Group (PMTS +39.33%) stock soared 41.4% through 11:50 a.m. ET Thursday, breaking above a $200 million market capitalization again for the first time this year, despite reporting only mixed results for fiscal Q4 2025. Heading into the report, analysts forecast the credit card manufacturer to earn $0.69 per share on sales of $145.2 million. In fact, earnings were only $0.62 per share -- but sales raced past expectations to land at $153 million. Image source: Getty Images. CPI Q4 earnings Americans love their credit cards. According to recent research from The Motley Fool, 81% of Americans have at least one -- and 31% of us carry four or more! That's good news for CPI, which makes the cards so that banks can hand them out to customers. CPI's sales surged 22% year over year, driven by debit and credit card sales up 40%... but offset by a 27% decline in the company's smaller prepaid debit card business. Gross profit margins slipped 260 basis points to 31.5%. Net income grew 9% regardless. For the full year, CPI reported 13% sales growth, 31.3% gross profit margin (down 430 b.p. from 2024), and a 23% decline in net income. Free cash flow came in substantially ahead of reported net income, however -- $41.3 million, up 21% year over year. ExpandNASDAQ: PMTSCpi Card GroupToday's Change(39.33%) $4.90Current Price$17.36Key Data PointsMarket Cap$142MDay's Range$15.53 - $17.7552wk Range$10.81 - $31.85Volume8.9KAvg Vol45KGross Margin30.88% Is CPI Card stock a buy? Valued at $200 million, CPI stock trades for a 5x price-to-free cash flow ratio, which seems cheap. Don't forget to add the company's $265 million in net debt, though, which more than doubles CPI's enterprise value. To still be a buy after today's share price surge, I'd want to see CPI continue growing FCF in at least the low double-digits. With management predicting "high single-digit" sales growth this year, that's possible... but not guaranteed. Read NextNov 5, 2024 •By Rich SmithWhy CPI Card Group Stock Popped 12% TodayAug 8, 2023 •By Rich SmithWhy CPI Card Group Stock Soared 21% TodayMar 8, 2023 •By Rich SmithWhy CPI Card Group Stock Jumped 13% on WednesdaySep 15, 2021 •By Rich SmithWhy CPI Card Group Stock Dropped 12% TodayMay 12, 2016 •By Jordan WathenWhy CPI Card Group Inc.

Is Plummeting TodayAbout the AuthorRich Smith is a contributing Motley Fool defense and stock market analyst covering publicly traded and emerging companies in defense, space, aerospace, and other sectors. Prior to The Motley Fool, Rich practiced international corporate law for Clifford Chance in Russia, and for the Russian-Ukrainian Legal Group in Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the College of William & Mary, a law degree from the University of Baltimore, and a language certification from the International Institute of Russian Language & Culture in Tver, Russian Federation. The Globe and Mail once featured him as “one of the best stock pickers since 2009.”TMFDittyX@RichSmithFoolStocks MentionedCpi Card GroupNASDAQ: PMTS$17.36(+39.33%)+$4.90*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.