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MasterCard (MA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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MasterCard (MA - Free Report) closed at $346.35 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.7% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.64%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.45%.

Coming into today, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had lost 7.85% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector lost 7.08%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.83%.

MasterCard will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.20, up 34.15% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.14 billion, up 24.82% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $8.27 per share and revenue of $18.81 billion. These totals would mark changes of +28.62% and +22.91%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MasterCard. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature 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 shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. MasterCard is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, MasterCard currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 41.17. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.14.

It is also worth noting that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.97. 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. MA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 183, which puts it in the bottom 28% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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