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MasterCard (MA) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

MasterCard (MA) closed the most recent trading day at $269.47, moving -0.55% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.45%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.22%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.78%.

Heading into today, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had gained 0.44% over the past month, outpacing the Business Services sector's loss of 11.24% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.42% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MA as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.76, down 1.12% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.95 billion, up 1.52% from the year-ago period.

MA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.81 per share and revenue of $17.17 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +0.51% and +1.67%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MA. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 12.32% lower. MA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, MA is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 34.68. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.07.

It is also worth noting that MA currently has a PEG ratio of 2.52. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.24 at yesterday's closing price.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 195, which puts it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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