Barclays Reviews Mastercard's Earnings

In a report published Thursday, Barclays analysts maintained an Overweight rating on

, with a price target of $100. Mastercard reported its 1Q15 earnings ahead of expectations. The company's net revenue, at $2.23 billion, was marginally below Barclays estimate and consensus expectations. The company's "top-line growth was mostly in-line with our expectations given recent bank data, gas prices, M&A commentary, and FX. Incentives were also in-line given our anticipation of an increase related to the recent Citi and Itau deals," the analysts mentioned. The company reduced its FY15 net revenue growth guidance to the low-single-digit range. The guidance includes a "2pt benefit from M&A and a 600-800bps headwind from unfavorable FX, suggesting high-single digit growth Y/Y CC (unchanged from prior)," the analysts pointed out. "We expect growth to accelerate in 2H15 as MA laps the loss of Chase and anniversaries tough comps from its C2Q13 price increase. Despite FX, we see potential upside to estimates from 1) APT (we estimate ~50bps tailwind for FY15), 2) pricing, and 3) expenses," the report mentioned. The EPS estimates for F2015 and F2016 have been reduced from $3.38 to $3.35 and from $4.22 to $4.16, respectively.