Who will be the next payments acquisition target?

Nuvei's deal has kicked off the payments speculation game for 2023.

Why it matters: More consolidation in the space is seen as inevitable, and the game is on to see which company could be the next M&A target.

Driving the news: In a note Monday following Nuvei's $1.3 billion deal for Paya, Truist Securities analysts identified a handful of smaller, publicly traded companies ripe for takeover.

• The note lists fintechs Repay, Green Dot, Shift4, Euronet, and WEX as the "greatest potential beneficiaries of these announced transactions as investors consider other potential acquisition targets."
• Repay and Green Dot have a market cap in the $800 million range, Shift4 at about $4.8 billion, Euronet at about $4.9 billion, and WEX at about $7.4 billion.
• Truist also pointed to Lightspeed Commerce, Affirm, Marqeta, and Flywire as potential targets.

Of note: Marqeta at least has expressed no interest in being acquired, with voting control resting with its founder, Jason Gardner.

Bottom line: Nuvei's acquisition of Paya at a valuation the latter once held in 2020 gave hope to investors in some other payments companies that an acquirer could swoop in at a higher price.

• Shares of Repay, for instance, closed up by 5% Monday.