Can MA's Cyber Bet Pay Off as Exabeam-Recorded Future Tie-Up Deepens?

Mastercard Incorporated MA is quietly bolstering one of its key advantages: cybersecurity. The latest development comes from MA’s subsidiary, Recorded Future, which has broadened its collaboration with Exabeam. The strengthened partnership brings real-time, smart threat detection, investigation and automated response capabilities right to the forefront. As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, MA’s commitment to integrating advanced intelligence into its ecosystem marks a significant shift toward a more predictive and automated defense across its global payments systems.

This integration connects Exabeam’s New-Scale Security Operations Platform with Recorded Future Intelligence Platform, providing security teams with real-time threat context embedded directly into their workflows. Instead of getting overwhelmed by a flood of raw alerts, analysts can now depend on enriched timelines, dynamic risk scoring and automated threat responses that significantly reduce investigation times.

Key features like automated threat enrichment, prebuilt response playbooks and AI-driven correlation highlight the shift in the cybersecurity landscape from reactive alert-chasing to proactive detection. Exabeam’s agentic AI brings an extra layer of speed, turning insights into action without adding any extra burden on teams.

By enhancing its threat intelligence, MA solidifies its role as a reliable payment provider for banks, fintechs and merchants around the globe. In an industry where a single security breach can damage trust in an instant, the company’s control over a top-notch intelligence engine could set it apart from the competition for years to come.

How Are Competitors Faring?

Some of MA’s competitors in the fintech space include Visa Inc. V and American Express Company AXP.

Visa is stepping up its game in cybersecurity by weaving in advanced analytics and adaptive risk tools throughout its network. V is increasingly relying on real-time threat intelligence to spot anomalies, bolster fraud defenses and provide partners with quicker, more automated incident response capabilities.

American Express leverages cutting-edge machine-learning technology, including deep-learning models running on NVIDIA GPUs, to monitor transactions in real time. These sophisticated models sift through behavioral patterns and historical data to spot any unusual activity in just milliseconds, which helps AXP enhance its fraud detection capabilities across its worldwide payments network.

Mastercard’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

In the year-to-date period, MA’s shares have gained 0.2% against the industry’s fall of 13.4%.

From a valuation standpoint, MA trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, above the industry average of 19.95. MA carries a Value Score of D.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Mastercard’s 2025 earnings implies 12.6% growth from the year-ago period.

Mastercard currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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