In the latest trading session, MasterCard (MA) closed at $324.79, marking a +0.06% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.3% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.69%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.37%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had lost 13.3% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's loss of 10.53% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.33% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MasterCard as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, MasterCard is projected to report earnings of $2.21 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 27.01%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.97 billion, up 19.73% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.35 per share and revenue of $22.44 billion. These totals would mark changes of +23.21% and +18.85%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MasterCard. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. MasterCard is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note MasterCard's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 31.38. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.09.
It is also worth noting that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.55. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Financial Transaction Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.97 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 221, putting it in the bottom 13% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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