Mastercard Incorporated's share price delivered strong results on an absolute basis, but there is a catch. MA is not priced at the stratospheric levels from 2020-21 period, but that doesn't mean that the stock is attractive. To justify the current share price, investors will have to be comfortable with way too optimistic assumptions about the future.
Mastercard's upcoming Q3 results are crucial for validating its premium over Visa and assessing my three-pillar growth thesis. Key differences: Visa is larger, more U.S.-focused, and more profitable, while Mastercard aggressively pursues customer acquisition. Mastercard's value-added services and new flows are growing faster than consumer payments, reflective of the future drivers of the business.
When deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock, investors often rely on analyst recommendations. Media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts often influence a stock's price, but are they really important?
In the closing of the recent trading day, MasterCard (MA) stood at $506.66, denoting a +0.88% change from the preceding trading day.
Here is how MasterCard (MA) and INTERTEK GP (IKTSY) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.
MA's launch of real-time card payments in South Africa is likely to enable faster transactions and better cash flow for businesses.
Citi and Mastercard have teamed up to enable cross-border payments to Mastercard debit cards. The companies are launching this capability in 14 receiving markets across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and U.S. domestic transfers, and plan to expand it further in the future, they said in a Thursday (Oct. 10) press release.
MasterCard (MA) has been one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com users lately. So, it is worth exploring what lies ahead for the stock.
MA's focus on diversifying its revenues by enhancing its cybersecurity capabilities, coupled with partnerships to expand its payments network, bode well.
In the most recent trading session, MasterCard (MA) closed at $497.06, indicating a +1.17% shift from the previous trading day.
Mastercard said South Africa will be its first market to benefit from real-time card payments. The company will enable acquiring banks to process real-time card payments via Mastercard's product innovations, enhancements to its network and strategic partnerships, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 8) press release.
On 10/9/24, Mastercard will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.66, payable on 11/8/24. As a percentage of MA's recent stock price of $497.70, this dividend works out to approximately 0.13%.