ACI Raises 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Outlook After Renewal Shift

The Tip Desk · November 5, 2026 · 3 min read

The company now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of $550 million to $565 million after third-quarter revenue of $427 million and a 12% year-over-year decline.

ACI Worldwide (ACIW), a provider of global payments technology, reported third-quarter revenue of $427 million, down 12% from a year earlier, or down 11% on a constant currency basis, which the company attributed primarily to the timing of this year’s license renewals.

Net income was $33 million, compared with $91 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $98 million, down 43% from a year earlier, and net adjusted EBITDA margin was 35%. GAAP diluted earnings were $0.32 a share; adjusted diluted earnings were $0.54 a share.

The sequential path reversed the second quarter’s 7% year-over-year revenue increase. Recurring revenue, however, was $309 million, up 4% from the third quarter of 2025 on both a reported and constant currency basis.

Payment Software revenue was $216 million, down 24% from the year-ago quarter, or down 23% in constant currency, reflecting the expected concentration of 2026 renewals in the fourth quarter. Segment recurring revenue decreased 1% on a reported and constant currency basis. Payment Software adjusted EBITDA was $107 million, down 41% on a reported and constant currency basis, and net adjusted EBITDA margin was 49%, down from 64%. The company continues to expect upper-single-digit Payment Software revenue growth for full-year 2026, with the strongest quarterly growth in the fourth quarter.

Biller revenue was $210 million, up 6% from the year-ago quarter on a reported and constant currency basis. Biller revenue net of interchange fees was $66 million, up 5%, which the company said benefited from continued progress on interchange optimization. Biller adjusted EBITDA was $34 million, up 4%, and net adjusted EBITDA margin net of interchange fees was 51%, in line with the year-ago quarter. Based on new business wins and current transaction trends, the company continues to expect upper-single-digit Biller revenue growth for the full year.

Net new ARR bookings were $24 million, up 86% from the third quarter of 2025, with growth across both Payment Software and Biller. New license and services bookings were $64 million, down 21%. For the trailing 12 months ended September 30, 2026, net new ARR bookings were $79 million, down 3% from 2025, and license and services bookings were $238 million, down 22%. The company continues to expect growth for both full-year 2026 new ARR and new license and services bookings.

President and CEO Thomas Warsop said the company executed well and delivered results ahead of expectations, with ARR bookings particularly strong. He said ACI reached a first customer go-live for ACI Connetic and announced two additional wins. The company also announced the acquisition of Cranium Ventures to add multi-rail card switching microservices.

Year-to-date 2026 operating cash flow was $254 million, up 26% from $201 million for the same period last year. In the third quarter the company repurchased about 935,000 shares for about $50 million. Year-to-date repurchases totaled 3.4 million shares for about $157 million at an average price of $45.69. ACI ended the quarter with $219 million in cash, $821 million of debt, a net debt leverage ratio of 1.3 times adjusted EBITDA, and $587 million of total cash and available liquidity under its credit facility. It has $299 million of availability under the existing repurchase authorization and continues to expect to allocate 50–60% of operating cash flow to share repurchases for the full year, subject to market conditions.

Based on year-to-date performance and visibility into the remainder of the year, ACI reiterated full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $1.895 billion to $1.925 billion and raised adjusted EBITDA guidance to $550 million to $565 million from $545 million to $560 million. Fourth-quarter 2026 guidance is revenue of $612 million to $642 million and adjusted EBITDA of $257 million to $272 million. Warsop said the company is confident in a full-year outlook of upper-single-digit revenue growth with margin expansion.