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Mastercard (MA) Unveils ALT ID for Enhanced Guest Checkouts

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Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) introduced the ALT ID solution for paving the way for seamless and secured guest checkout transactions across India. Guest checkout actually refers to the execution of transactions on e-commerce platforms without saving the card credentials of cardholders.  

ALT ID, a tailored capability developed by Mastercard’s security systems, generates an alternate identifier for each of the card numbers provided by cardholders on merchant websites. This, in turn, infuses more security into the guest checkout transactions and provides a greater peace of mind to both merchants and consumers. The ongoing digitization trend, that shows no mood of slowing down, offers innumerous benefits to merchants and consumers of the world.

But the trend to go digital often invites sophisticated methods of cybercrimes, which compromise payments received by merchants and the confidential data of consumers. This, in turn, might lead to the incurrence of exorbitant costs.
As the solution preserves the confidentiality of card numbers, more number of cardholders are likely to get encouraged to opt for online shopping and stay abreast with the digitization trend. Meanwhile, merchants and payment service providers will benefit from seamless integration of the ALT ID solution within their online platforms, an upgraded customers’ payment experience and improved payment success rates.

Some of the Indian payment solution providers that have announced the adoption of the ALT ID solution include Juspay, PayU and Razorpay.

Launching of such beneficial solutions may widen Mastercard's customer base in India as well as fetch greater revenues from the increased utilization of its solutions. The country seems to be an attractive market for the tech giant for infusing greater digitization, owing to the elevated Internet penetration, increased smartphone usage and several government initiatives to boost the nation’s digital growth.  

This August, Mastercard unveiled the Mastercard Strive India, which will leverage tie-ups with trade associations, non-profits, and government agencies to enable the country’s micro-enterprises, women-owned and led businesses and agri-entrepreneurs easily adopt digital means.

MA boasts a solid hold on the worldwide digital payments market and its robust digital arm built on partnerships and investments has played a pivotal role in achieving this position. The tech giant actively pursues tie-ups with payment service providers, merchants, acquirers and financial institutions to infuse frictionless payment experiences across different parts of the globe.

Shares of Mastercard have gained 28% in a year compared with the industry’s 16% rise. MA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

 

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are Kelly Services, Inc. (KELYA - Free Report) , Aptiv PLC (APTV - Free Report) and Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK - Free Report) . Kelly Services sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Aptiv and Verisk Analytics carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of Kelly Services outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average surprise being 3.07%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KELYA’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 24.1% from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus mark for KELYA’s 2023 earnings has moved 2.5% north in the past seven days.

Aptiv’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 13.35%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APTV’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 39% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 14.8% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for APTV’s 2023 earnings has moved 8% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of Verisk Analytics outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and matched the mark once, the average surprise being 9.85%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VRSK’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 14% from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus mark for VRSK’s 2023 earnings has moved 3.6% north in the past seven days.

Shares of Kelly Services, Aptiv and Verisk Analytics have gained 15.9%, 11.1% and 31.1%, respectively, in a year.

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