MasterCard (MA) closed at $222.61 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.14% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily of 0%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.07%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.06%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had gained 3.98% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector’s gain of 0.87% and the S&P 500’s gain of 0.78% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MA as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 30, 2018. On that day, MA is projected to report earnings of $1.68 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 25.37%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.87 billion, up 13.85% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.41 per share and revenue of $14.94 billion. These totals would mark changes of +39.96% and +19.56%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MA. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% higher. MA currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, MA is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 34.69. This represents a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 22.3.
We can also see that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.83. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Financial Transaction Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.68 as of yesterday’s close.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 67, which puts it in the top 26% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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