Mastercard is a global payments giant. It owns one of the two largest credit card payment processing networks in the world. The company’s biggest strength is its already-established and far-reaching payment infrastructure. Mastercard operates in more than 200 countries and processed $4.8 trillion in purchase transactions in 2019. The company processes transactions in more than 150 currencies.
Leveraging the migration from cash to digital payments
Globally, digital payments have surpassed cash payments. The pandemic has also boosted digital payments. Keeping with this trend, Mastercard has been making its own moves towards making an impact in the trillion-dollar digital payments sector. As recently as June, the company announced the $825 million acquisition of Finicity, a financial data aggregation startup. Mastercard is like a tollbooth in the digital payments space. It earns revenues regardless of whether a payment is done using a credit card, debit card, or mobile phone. So, shifts within the digital payments space do not seem to affect Mastercard.
Contactless shopping – the next step in the evolution of payments
Mastercard announced during the end of August a new frictionless transaction solution that will allow customers to conduct transactions by merely having possession of a card. There is no need to wait in lines to swipe the card in order to make a payment. The customer can literally “Shop Anywhere” – which is also the name of Mastercard’s new technology platform.
Mastercard vs Visa
Mastercard’s stock has gained 69% since the March market crash while Visa’s stock is up 53.94% during a comparable period. In the past month, Mastercard is up 9.37% while Visa is up 8.67%. So, Mastercard’s stock has outperformed Visa’s in the near term. On a 5-year basis, Mastercard is up 279% while Visa is up 202%. So, on a longer-term, Mastercard stock seems to have beaten Visa’s stock as well.
