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MasterCard (MA) Stock Moves -0.05%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, MasterCard (MA - Free Report) closed at $492.74, marking a -0.05% move from the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.19%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.09%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.36%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had gained 5.16% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's gain of 6.7% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 2.06% in that time.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of MasterCard in its forthcoming earnings report. On that day, MasterCard is projected to report earnings of $3.72 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.73%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $7.24 billion, indicating a 10.8% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $14.29 per share and a revenue of $27.92 billion, demonstrating changes of +16.56% and +11.23%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for MasterCard. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. MasterCard is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, MasterCard is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 34.49. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.61, which means MasterCard is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that MA has a PEG ratio of 1.94 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. Financial Transaction Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.29 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 76, which puts it in the top 31% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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