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MasterCard (MA) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, MasterCard (MA - Free Report) closed at $290.40, marking a +0.19% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.91%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.22%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had gained 6.25% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector's gain of 4.28% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.65% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MA as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, MA is projected to report earnings of $1.87 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 20.65%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.40 billion, up 15.54% from the year-ago period.

MA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.69 per share and revenue of $16.86 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +18.49% and +12.8%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MA. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. MA is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, MA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 37.69. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 24.72.

It is also worth noting that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.36. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Financial Transaction Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.77 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 43, putting it in the top 17% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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