LSAK

Lesaka Technologies($LSAK) Officer Buys $106K in Shares as Company Pursues Acquisition Strategy

03/25/2025 20:08

A senior officer at South African fintech company Lesaka Technologies ($LSAK) has recently made a significant stock purchase. According to SEC filings, Ali Mazanderani acquired a total of 22,390 shares at an average price of $4.75 over two days, March 21 and 24, 2025, representing an investment of approximately $106,000. This purchase stands in contrast to the selling pattern exhibited last year by Director Christopher GB Meyer, who consecutively sold a total of 106,217 shares (worth approximately $495,000) over a one-week period from June 21-28, 2024. Notably, the transaction reported on July 2 was recorded as a forfeiture of restricted stock granted in July 2021 that failed to meet stock price target vesting conditions. Lesaka Technologies is a fintech company that provides financial services and software solutions to underserved consumers and merchants primarily in South Africa. The company offers a range of financial services including transactional accounts, lending, insurance, cash management, card acceptance, and bill payments. $LSAK has been pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy recently. In November, the company announced the acquisition of Recharger, a prepaid electricity submetering and payments business, for $28 million (ZAR 507 million). The deal structure included ZAR 332 million in cash and ZAR 175 million in stock. Earlier in 2024, the company acquired Touchsides, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions provider in February, and payment platform Adumo for $85 million in May. Despite this aggressive acquisition approach, Lesaka's financial situation still requires improvement. According to recent financial data, the company has a market capitalization of approximately $373.49 million with annual revenue of $576.60 million, but reported a net loss of $44.12 million and earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.67. However, the company maintains an optimistic outlook for fiscal year 2025. In early February, Lesaka projected FY2025 revenue between ZAR 10-11 billion and EBITDA between ZAR 900 million and 1 billion. Looking further ahead, the company forecasts adjusted EBITDA for FY2026 to reach between ZAR 1.25 billion and 1.45 billion. From a stock price perspective, $LSAK shares have traded with volatility over the past six months. After reaching the $5.30-$5.55 range in October-November 2024, the stock has pulled back to the mid-$4 range recently. The current price sits roughly in the middle of its 52-week range ($3.26-$5.60). Mazanderani's recent share purchase could signal an insider's confidence in the company's long-term growth prospects. Particularly when considered alongside the aggressive acquisition strategy and positive performance guidance for the next two years, this purchase may reflect expectations that the company will move from loss to a growth trajectory. However, with Lesaka's forward P/E ratio standing at a very high 98.00, the market appears to have already priced in significant performance improvements. Investors should therefore carefully monitor the successful integration of acquired companies and actual performance improvements.

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