News

Mastercard Incorporated MA recently announced its partnership with Ant Group and a host of other international partners to launch the International Consumer Friendly Zones program in Shanghai. This initiative marks a significant leap forward in enhancing the travel experience for global visitors in China while driving growth for local businesses.

This move bodes well for Mastercard as by expanding payment options for foreign travelers in China, it will see improved transaction volumes. This partnership with Ant Group should enable MA to benefit from the resurging inbound travel in China. In the first quarter of 2024, cross-border travel was 80% of the pre-COVID level, leaving it with further scope of recovery. Mastercard sees this partnership as an opportunity to use existing cards to generate more volumes by partnering with digital wallets.

This program will enable travelers to either link their international bank cards, such as Mastercard, Visa, etc., to the Alipay app or use their home e-wallets with Alipay+ across China. These options provide payment flexibility for travelers. Moreover, participating merchants will also enhance payment signage visibility to educate customers about several payment options available.

This is a time opportune move as spending by foreigners in Shanghai from January to April 2024 improved 13 times year over year through the two payment alternatives. Market expansion opportunities, higher transaction fees and volumes bode well for Mastercard. The program performed well in Beijing and Guangzhou and is expected to roll out in 16 other Chinese cities in the future. This partnership highlights MA’s commitment to customer convenience and innovation.

Price Movements

Shares of Mastercard have risen 20.7% in the past year compared with the industry’s 17.8% growth.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Mastercard currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Business Services space are Global Payments Inc. GPN, Paysafe Limited PSFE and WEX Inc. WEX. Each stock presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Global Payments’ 2024 earnings is currently pegged at $11.63 per share, indicating 11.6% year-over-year growth. The company beat on earnings in each of the past four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 1.1%. The consensus mark for GPN’s 2024 revenues is pegged at $9.2 billion, implying a 6.4% increase from the year-ago level.

The consensus estimate for Paysafe’s current-year earnings is pegged at $2.47 per share, indicating 6% year-over-year growth. The company beat on earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, delivering an average surprise of 18.3%. The consensus mark for PSFE’s 2024 revenues is pinned at $1.7 billion, indicating a 6.5% increase from the year-ago level.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WEX’s 2024 earnings of $16.26 per share indicates 9.8% year-over-year growth. The company beat on earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the same in one, delivering an average surprise of 3.3%. The consensus estimate for WEX’s current-year revenues is pegged at $2.7 billion, indicating a 7.6% increase from the year-ago level.

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Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.