---
title: "Global Payments: Risk & Monitoring Guide"
description: "Global Payments financial risk indicators from its SEC filings (leverage, liquidity, interest coverage, debt load) compared with peers, with filings linked."
canonical: https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/risks/
source: "Swoopr Investment: https://www.getswoopr.com"
---

# Global Payments: Risk & Monitoring Guide

## Direct Answer

Global Payments's fiscal 2025 filings show operating income covers interest expense only 2.8x. These figures measure financial risk only; the business risks Global Payments itself considers material are listed under Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its Form 10-K, most recently filed February 20, 2026.

## What Do Global Payments's Financial Risk Indicators Show?

| Indicator (fiscal 2025) | Global Payments | Peer median (same SIC code) | What it measures |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Liabilities to assets | 55% | 60% | How much of the balance sheet is funded by obligations rather than equity. |
| Current ratio | 1.7x | 1.4x | Short-term assets per dollar of obligations due within a year. |
| Interest coverage | 2.8x | -1.6x | Operating income per dollar of interest expense. |
| Long-term debt to operating cash flow | 8.1x | 2.7x | Years of operating cash flow it would take to repay long-term debt. |
| Net debt | $13.2 billion | n/a | Long-term debt minus cash; negative means more cash than long-term debt. |

The peer median uses 61 other companies in Swoopr's S&P 500 Equal Weight set that share the same SEC SIC code. A reading worse than the peer median is a prompt to read the filing, not a conclusion.

![Bar chart of Global Payments balance sheet at the end of fiscal 2025: total assets $53.3 billion, total liabilities $29.6 billion, shareholders' equity $22.9 billion, long-term debt $21.6 billion, cash and equivalents $8.3 billion.](https://www.getswoopr.com/images/charts/global-payments-risks-balance-sheet.webp)
*Global Payments balance sheet items at the end of fiscal 2025, from the figures in the table above. Long-term debt is highlighted. Select the chart to open it full size.*

## Where Are Global Payments's Official Risk Factors?

The risks Global Payments considers material are disclosed in Item 1A of its Form 10-K, most recently [filed February 20, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1123360/000112336026000008/gpn-20251231.htm). Read them with three questions in mind: which risks are specific to this company rather than generic, which have changed since the prior year's filing, and which connect to the figures above (a refinancing risk matters more when interest coverage is thin).

## Where These Numbers Come From

Every figure on this page is a value Global Payments reported in its own SEC filings, read from the SEC's XBRL data (accession 0001123360-26-000008 for fiscal year 2025). Ratios are computed from those reported values. Figures were retrieved on October 12, 2026; a later amendment or a new annual report can change them, and the filing itself always takes precedence over this summary.

Each fiscal year is labeled by the calendar year in which it ended, so a company that names the same period differently in its own filings (many retailers whose year ends in January) may use another label. A year is left out of the table when the SEC data set holds no value for it. A figure shown as "Not reported" means the company did not file a value under the standard tag Swoopr reads, not that the amount was zero. This page is educational and describes reported history only; it is not a forecast or a recommendation.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is Global Payments highly leveraged?

At the end of fiscal 2025, Global Payments's total liabilities were 55% of total assets, against a peer median of 60%. Leverage that is normal for one industry (banks, utilities) can be high for another.

### Where are Global Payments's official risk factors?

In Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its annual report on Form 10-K, most recently filed with the SEC on February 20, 2026. The company lists the risks it considers material there; the measures on this page only quantify the financial side.

### Can Global Payments pay its interest?

In fiscal 2025, operating income covered interest expense 2.8x. Coverage below about 3x leaves little room if earnings fall.

## References

- [SEC EDGAR: GLOBAL PAYMENTS INC Form 10-K filed February 20, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1123360/000112336026000008/gpn-20251231.htm)
- [SEC EDGAR: GLOBAL PAYMENTS INC annual and quarterly filings](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=1123360&type=10-K)
- [SEC: EDGAR application programming interfaces (XBRL frames and submissions data)](https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/edgar-application-programming-interfaces)

## Related Pages

- [Global Payments company dossier](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/)
- [Global Payments financial metrics](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/metrics/)
- [Global Payments financial risk indicators](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/risks/)
- [Global Payments peer comparison](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/competitors/)
- [Global Payments business model and revenue mix](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/global-payments/business-model/)
- [Fundamental analysis guides](https://www.getswoopr.com/learn/fundamental-analysis/)

**[Swoopr Editorial Team](https://www.getswoopr.com/authors/swoopr-editorial-team/)**

Swoopr's editorial team produces independent investment education content reviewed for accuracy and clarity. We do not provide personalized financial advice. See our [editorial policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/editorial-policy/) and [corrections policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/corrections-policy/).
