MasterCard (MA) closed the most recent trading day at $562.03, moving -4.62% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.13%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.79%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.3%.
The processor of debit and credit card payments's shares have seen an increase of 1.22% over the last month, surpassing the Business Services sector's gain of 0.81% and falling behind the S&P 500's gain of 3.55%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of MasterCard in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $4.05, reflecting a 12.81% increase from the same quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $7.95 billion, indicating a 14.16% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
MA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $15.98 per share and revenue of $31.85 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +9.45% and +13.09%, respectively.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for MasterCard. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.17% increase. Right now, MasterCard possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Looking at valuation, MasterCard is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 36.88. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.91, so one might conclude that MasterCard is trading at a premium comparatively.
It is also worth noting that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.57. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the Financial Transaction Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.37.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 52, putting it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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