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MasterCard (MA) Stock Moves -0.14%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, MasterCard (MA - Free Report) closed at $375, marking a -0.14% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.2% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.39%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had gained 10.04% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector's gain of 6.01% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.01% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MasterCard as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 26, 2023. In that report, analysts expect MasterCard to post earnings of $2.56 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 8.94%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.75 billion, up 10.33% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MasterCard should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% lower. MasterCard is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.

Investors should also note MasterCard's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 31.27. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.33, so we one might conclude that MasterCard is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MA has a PEG ratio of 1.69. 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 0.96 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 152, putting it in the bottom 40% 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.

To follow MA in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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