Is Shift4 Payments financially healthy?
Not really
Shift4 Payments carries heavy debt: it would take 4.5 years of earnings to pay it off.
The numbers behind it
Net debt / EBITDA4.5 years
Cash vs. debt$964M vs. $4.6B
Current ratio1.7×Short-term assets for each $1 of bills due within a year
Interest coverage2.0×How many times operating profit covers the interest bill
How we decide
We measure debt in years of earnings (net debt / EBITDA): under 1 is very comfortable, 1 to 3 is manageable, above 3 is heavy. A company that earns less than 3 times its interest bill also counts as weak.
More questions about Shift4 Payments
Data as of Nov 13, 2026.