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Is Mastercard (MA) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?

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Investors focused on the Business Services space have likely heard of Mastercard (MA - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.

Mastercard is one of 197 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. MA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MA's full-year earnings has moved 0.45% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that MA has returned about 33.64% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of 11.18% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Mastercard is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, MA belongs to the Financial Transaction Services industry, a group that includes 25 individual companies and currently sits at #26 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 18.18% so far this year, so MA is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to MA as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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