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Are Business Services Stocks Lagging Mastercard (MA) This Year?

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Investors interested in Business Services stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has MasterCard (MA - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Business Services peers, we might be able to answer that question.

MasterCard is a member of the Business Services sector. This group includes 313 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #10. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. MasterCard is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MA's full-year earnings has moved 1.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, MA has moved about 5.9% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Business Services group have gained about 5.9% on average. As we can see, MasterCard is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Business Services sector, Spotify (SPOT - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 29.5%.

For Spotify, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 114.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, MasterCard is a member of the Financial Transaction Services industry, which includes 38 individual companies and currently sits at #89 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 5.7% so far this year, so MA is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Spotify belongs to the Technology Services industry. This 174-stock industry is currently ranked #91. The industry has moved +9.9% year to date.

Investors with an interest in Business Services stocks should continue to track MasterCard and Spotify. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.


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