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Mastercard (MA) Pursues Tie-Ups to Drive Digitization in MENA
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) recently undertook a slew of measures with an eye to strengthen its foothold throughout the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") region.
The first initiative relates to MA’s partnership with one of Bahrain’s fintech, Infinios Financial Services. The tie-up marks the launch of the first-ever wholesale travel program across the region. The program is built by integrating the transparent pricing structure of Mastercard with Infinios’ comprehensive technology prowess.
The availability of the Mastercard Wholesale Program is expected to automate and inject greater security within business-to-business travel payments. This brings in a ray of hope relieving travel merchants of the MENA region from the inefficient manual payment methods still pursued on a widespread basis across the travel sector.
The latest partnership can be termed as a time opportune one as the travel industry continues to recover from the adversities of the COVID pandemic and people have gradually gained confidence in traveling. And the Mastercard Wholesale Program, leveraged by more than 400,000 travel merchants, provides MA the perfect ground to capitalize on the growth prospects prevailing amid MENA’s travel sector.
Concurrent with announcing the tie-up with Infinios, Mastercard also granted a principal membership license to the fintech division - PayBy of one of the leading technology companies of the MENA region, Astra Tech. This will enable Astra to issue Mastercard-branded digital and physical cards thereby expanding the reach of MA’s product suite.
Just a day before the two abovementioned initiatives were announced, Mastercard inked a long-term cooperation deal with the Egyptian bank, Banque Misr. MA will utilize its cutting-edge digital payment technology to diversify the digital payment portfolio of the bank. This tie-up aims to offer the unbanked segments of Egypt access to easy-to-use digital solutions.
Mastercard has often taken the help of MENA’s fintech to drive digital transformation across the region. Resorting to partnerships with tech platforms or undertaking significant investments within the region remains prudent on MA’s part as the region continues to witness a booming digital economy. Factors such as increased Internet penetration and higher usage of smartphones continue to drive MENA's digital growth.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 2.9% in a year against the industry’s 3.2% decline. MA currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The bottom line of ICF International outpaced estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average beat being 9.21%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ICFI’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 6.4% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 10.4% from the prior-year figure. The consensus mark for ICFI’s 2023 earnings has moved 4.6% north in the past 30 days.
Exponent’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 9.62%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EXPO’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 6.1% from the prior-year reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 10.1% from the 2022 figure. The consensus mark for EXPO’s 2023 earnings has moved 1% north in the past 30 days.
The bottom line of Bowman Consulting Group outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average beat being 174.12%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BWMN’s 2023 earnings is pegged at 81 cents per share, which has more than doubled from the prior-year reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 18% from the 2022 figure. BWMN boasts an impressive VGM Score of A.
Shares of ICF International, Exponent and Bowman Consulting Group have gained 18.5%, 3.8% and 84.5%, respectively, in a year.
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Mastercard (MA) Pursues Tie-Ups to Drive Digitization in MENA
Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) recently undertook a slew of measures with an eye to strengthen its foothold throughout the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") region.
The first initiative relates to MA’s partnership with one of Bahrain’s fintech, Infinios Financial Services. The tie-up marks the launch of the first-ever wholesale travel program across the region. The program is built by integrating the transparent pricing structure of Mastercard with Infinios’ comprehensive technology prowess.
The availability of the Mastercard Wholesale Program is expected to automate and inject greater security within business-to-business travel payments. This brings in a ray of hope relieving travel merchants of the MENA region from the inefficient manual payment methods still pursued on a widespread basis across the travel sector.
The latest partnership can be termed as a time opportune one as the travel industry continues to recover from the adversities of the COVID pandemic and people have gradually gained confidence in traveling. And the Mastercard Wholesale Program, leveraged by more than 400,000 travel merchants, provides MA the perfect ground to capitalize on the growth prospects prevailing amid MENA’s travel sector.
Concurrent with announcing the tie-up with Infinios, Mastercard also granted a principal membership license to the fintech division - PayBy of one of the leading technology companies of the MENA region, Astra Tech. This will enable Astra to issue Mastercard-branded digital and physical cards thereby expanding the reach of MA’s product suite.
Just a day before the two abovementioned initiatives were announced, Mastercard inked a long-term cooperation deal with the Egyptian bank, Banque Misr. MA will utilize its cutting-edge digital payment technology to diversify the digital payment portfolio of the bank. This tie-up aims to offer the unbanked segments of Egypt access to easy-to-use digital solutions.
Mastercard has often taken the help of MENA’s fintech to drive digital transformation across the region. Resorting to partnerships with tech platforms or undertaking significant investments within the region remains prudent on MA’s part as the region continues to witness a booming digital economy. Factors such as increased Internet penetration and higher usage of smartphones continue to drive MENA's digital growth.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 2.9% in a year against the industry’s 3.2% decline. MA currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are ICF International, Inc. (ICFI - Free Report) , Exponent, Inc. (EXPO - Free Report) and Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (BWMN - Free Report) . While ICF International currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Exponent and Bowman Consulting carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The bottom line of ICF International outpaced estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average beat being 9.21%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ICFI’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 6.4% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 10.4% from the prior-year figure. The consensus mark for ICFI’s 2023 earnings has moved 4.6% north in the past 30 days.
Exponent’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 9.62%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EXPO’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 6.1% from the prior-year reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 10.1% from the 2022 figure. The consensus mark for EXPO’s 2023 earnings has moved 1% north in the past 30 days.
The bottom line of Bowman Consulting Group outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average beat being 174.12%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BWMN’s 2023 earnings is pegged at 81 cents per share, which has more than doubled from the prior-year reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 18% from the 2022 figure. BWMN boasts an impressive VGM Score of A.
Shares of ICF International, Exponent and Bowman Consulting Group have gained 18.5%, 3.8% and 84.5%, respectively, in a year.