News

Mastercard Incorporated MA recently teamed up with the Medical Tourism Association (“MTA”) in a bid to upgrade the global healthcare experience for medical tourists and enable secure and rapid cross-border payments to healthcare providers. All this will be made possible by leveraging MA’s commercial virtual card technology.

The initial launch of the new payment capabilities will be made by the partners with select healthcare providers globally, with plans to expand the reach to more providers by 2024-end.

With the help of Mastercard’s technology, patients will be able to book and pay for treatments using their preferred payment method while MTA will handle the payment process seamlessly with Mastercard’s virtual card technology. Upon the initiation and validation of the payment, MTA’s banking partner will issue a Mastercard virtual card to conduct direct payments to the health care provider. Virtual cards fetch an array of benefits to providers in the form of enhanced security, robust controls and the provision of real-time remittance data for efficient reconciliation.

Mastercard’s payment expertise will be also put to use by MTA to develop Better by MTA. The user-friendly platform will combine medical and travel services, allowing patients to manage every aspect of their journey through a single interface. They can schedule and pay for procedures as well as arrange travel, transportation and lodging. Better by MTA is designed to streamline payment processes, simplify travel decisions and enable effortless comparison of care options, thereby replacing the need for multiple booking tools to address medical travel needs.

The recent tie-up reinforces Mastercard’s sincere efforts to make use of its innovative technologies and counter the obstacles related to secure and fast payment experiences in various industries. This time, the benefits reaped from the usage of its virtual cards are expected to transform the healthcare ecosystem. Additionally, the increased utilization of MA’s virtual card technology is likely to fetch higher revenues for the tech giant.

The latest partnership also seems to be a time-opportune move on the part of Mastercard since insights from a recent Medical Tourism Patient Survey highlight that more than half of patients globally are concerned about international payments due to hidden costs, exchange rate complexities and increased fraud risk, thus underscoring the need for an improved payment process. The medical tourism industry has witnessed a longstanding reliance on cash and wire transfers, which has resulted in financial opacity and limited payment options for patients seeking treatment abroad. This provides the perfect ground for MA to capitalize on with its cutting-edge technology suite.

The enhanced digital suite of Mastercard, built through constant tie-ups and significant investments, makes it the favorite choice for companies seeking to transform the payment experience for their clients.

Shares of Mastercard have gained 8.2% in the past year compared with the industry’s 7.3% growth.

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MA currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are Block, Inc. SQ, APi Group Corporation APG and SPX Technologies, Inc. SPXC. While Block sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), APi Group and SPX Technologies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of Block outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 12.78%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SQ’s 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 72.8% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues implies growth of 15.1% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for SQ’s earnings has moved 0.6% north in the past 30 days.

APi Group’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 4.44%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APG’s 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 19% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues implies growth of 3.9% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for APG’s earnings has moved 1.6% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of SPX Technologies outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and met the mark once, the average surprise being 13.92%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SPXC’s 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 24.4% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues implies growth of 14.7% from the year-ago actuals. The consensus mark for SPXC’s earnings has moved 2.3% north in the past 60 days.

Shares of APi Group and SPX Technologies have gained 34.5% and 89.7%, respectively, in the past year. However, the Block stock has lost 8.3% in the same time frame.

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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.