Baird Reviews Mastercard's $920 Million Purchase Vocalink Stake


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


On Thursday, Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) reported a purchase of a 92.4 percent stake in in British ATM operator and automated clearing house, Vocalink for $920 million (£869 million). The purchase came after SoftBank Group Corp (OTC: SFTBY) (OTC: SFTBF) had made a £24.3 billion offer for Cambridge chip designer ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: ARMH).

Baird's David Koning commented on the Mastercard's purchases' impact on the company.

Expanding To Electronic Payments

The Baird analyst favored the merger as a way to expand Mastercard's exposure to electronic payments. "We like that the acquisition is ~2.5 percent accretive to total company revenue and provides MA with additional means to touch electronic payments," stated Koning. The analyst viewed the transaction to be about $0.05 dilutive to annual earnings per share (about 1–2 percent).

In addition, Koning believed Vocalink's growth rate would not be dilutive to total company growth in the future.

Related Link: Digging Into PayPal's Q2 Earnings

The analyst however noted the merger would significantly decrease the likelihood of any potential of future buyback.

About The Deal And Vocalink

According to Koning, these are the most notable facts about the deal:

  • Vocalink's 2015 revenue was $240 million,which is about 2.5 percent of Mastercard's total revenue.
  • The analyst believes the deal would be expected to close within three to 12 months.
  • Vocalink's 2015 EBITDA was $102 million representing about 43 percent margin.
  • "Beyond the next two years, management expects Vocalink to grow at a similar rate as the total company, as Vocalink's capabilities are expanded."

The analyst maintains Mastercard's Outperform rating and $115.00 price target.

At the time of writing, Mastercard traded at $92.99, up 0.57 percent Friday.

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27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


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Posted In: Analyst ColorLong IdeasNewsReiterationAsset SalesM&AAnalyst RatingsTrading IdeasDavid KoningVocalink