MasterCard Remains Well-Liked Stock Among Analysts After Impressive Quarter

Mastercard Inc MA reported impressive Q3 results, with the EPS beating the estimate and the consensus.

Baird’s David J. Koning maintained an Outperform rating on the company, while raising the price target from $120 to $124.

The Q3 beat lifted the stock Q3 beat lifted the stock to a record high. The company reports its adjusted EPS for Q3 at $1.08, well ahead of the consensus and the estimate, driven mostly by the core revenue and margin beat.

Net income rose 21.2 percent to $1.18 during the quarter.

Net revenue beat consensus expectations, while constant-FX growth came in at 14 percent quarter-on-quarter.

The company’s conservative guidance also helped set up for a beat quarter

Looking Ahead

“October metrics in the ROW accelerated relative to Q3, but decelerated in the US relative to Q3,” Koning mentioned, stating that processed volume growth stood at 10 percent globally, with 16 percent ROW growth.

MasterCard generally reiterated its 2016 constant-FX guidance, with low double digit growth and 1 percent FX headwinds expected.

“Management now expects expense growth in the low double digits (previously high single digits), but net revenue growth > expense growth,” the analyst stated.

The EPS estimates for 2016, 2017 and 2018 have been raised.