SuperworthMastercard Incorporated MA
- Market cap
- $499.4B
- PE
- 31.4×
- 10y median 38.6×
- Forward PE
- Price to sales
- 14.2×
- EV/EBIT
- 25.1×
- Revenue, 12 months
- $35.1B
- +16% on a year ago
- Net margin
- 46.3%
- Free cash flow yield
- 3.2%
Earnings up 70% in three years, the multiple near its decade's low end
Mastercard is growing faster than in 2024, while a travel slump and a swipe-fee bill keep its PE well below its usual level
Near the cheap end of its own decade
Mastercard runs a card network and takes a small fee on each payment that crosses it. At about 31 times the last four quarters of earnings, its PE is higher than only about one day in eight of the last ten years. The ten-year median is about 39. Reported and adjusted earnings are close, so one-offs do not explain the gap.
Growth sped up to 16%
Revenue over four quarters reached 35.08 billion dollars in the year to June 2026, up 49% in three years. Yearly growth ran near 12% through 2024 and has stayed above 15% for the last four quarters.
A ten-year-high margin, and services growing twice as fast
Operating margin over four quarters is 58.3%, up from about 55% three years ago and the highest in ten years. Part of the hope is services beyond the swipe, such as fraud screening, data and card security. They grew 20% in the June quarter, twice the pace of the payment network, and depend less on travel and cross-border volume.
Buybacks turn that into faster growth per share
Earnings per share over four quarters rose from 10.67 in June 2023 to 18.18 in June 2026, up 70%. Each buyback leaves fewer shares to split the profit. Diluted shares fell about 7% in those three years, so profit per share grew faster than the business.
The fear is travel and a fight over fees
Cross-border payments earn Mastercard more than domestic ones. After the Iran war began, cross-border travel volume growth fell from 8% in the March quarter to 2% in April. In January the President also backed a bill letting merchants route big banks' credit cards over a rival network. It has not passed and still sits in a Senate committee. The price is up about a fifth from its June low.
At today's price, consensus earnings put it at about 26 times
Consensus sees adjusted earnings up about 18% over the next twelve months. That puts the stock at about 26 times, below its usual forward multiple near 32 (partly rebuilt with hindsight). The chart's 27 still counts the September quarter, which reports on October 29. The price assumes the growth lasts but the premium does not. If travel volume holds up, that discount is the part with room to close.
What has happened lately
- SEC, Mastercard second quarter 2026 earnings releaseNet revenue rose 14% to 9.3 billion dollars and adjusted EPS was 5.04. Value-added services grew 20% and the payment network 10%. Mastercard bought back 4.9 billion dollars of stock in the quarter.
- SEC, Mastercard first quarter 2026 earnings releaseNet revenue rose 16% to 8.4 billion dollars, or 12% without currency moves. Value-added services grew 22%, and cross-border volume rose 13% in local currency.
- American Banker, Mastercard addresses Iran war impact during earningsCross-border travel volume grew 2% in April through April 28, down from 8% in the first quarter, as the war cut travel. Mastercard assumed the conflict would end in the second quarter.
- American Banker, Trump backs Durbin-Marshall swipe fee billThe Credit Card Competition Act would require cards from banks with over 100 billion dollars in assets to offer merchants a second, unaffiliated network that is neither Visa nor Mastercard.
Headlines link to the original source.
Charts
Financials
| Income statement | Q4 FY23 | Q1 FY24 | Q2 FY24 | Q3 FY24 | Q4 FY24 | Q1 FY25 | Q2 FY25 | Q3 FY25 | Q4 FY25 | Q1 FY26 | Q2 FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $6.5B | $6.3B | $7B | $7.4B | $7.5B+14% | $7.3B+14% | $8.1B+17% | $8.6B+17% | $8.8B+18% | $8.4B+16% | $9.3B+14% | |
| SG&A | $2.6B | $2.4B | $2.6B | $2.9B | $3B+14% | $2.7B+13% | $2.9B+13% | $3.1B+7% | $3.4B+12% | $3.1B+17% | $3.2B+10% |
| $3.4B | $3.6B | $4B | $4B | $3.9B+17% | $4.1B+15% | $4.8B+18% | $5.1B+26% | $4.9B+25% | $4.9B+18% | $5.6B+17% | |
| Interest expense | $148M | $150M | $153M | $159M | $184M+24% | $182M+21% | $195M+28% | $186M+17% | $159M−14% | $185M+2% | $218M+12% |
| Pre-tax income | $3.3B | $3.6B | $3.9B | $3.9B | $3.9B+17% | $4B+13% | $4.7B+19% | $5B+29% | $4.9B+25% | $4.8B+19% | $5.5B+17% |
| $530M | $547M | $681M | $603M | $549M+4% | $751M+37% | $971M+43% | $1.1B+78% | $816M+49% | $930M+24% | $1.1B+13% | |
| Net income | $2.8B | $3B | $3.3B | $3.3B | $3.3B+20% | $3.3B+9% | $3.7B+14% | $3.9B+20% | $4.1B+22% | $3.9B+18% | $4.4B+19% |
| $2.97 | $3.22 | $3.50 | $3.53 | $3.64+23% | $3.59+12% | $4.07+16% | $4.34+23% | $4.52+24% | $4.35+21% | $4.97+22% | |
| 939M | 935M | 930M | 925M | 919M−2% | 914M−2% | 909M−2% | 905M−2% | 898M−2% | 893M−2% | 883M−3% |
From each company's 10-Q and 10-K filings. Fiscal years are four fiscal quarters added up; balance sheet lines are as of the period's end. Growth is on the same period a year earlier.
Estimates
Next earnings report: .
Analyst consensus for the next eight quarters, with the range from the lowest to the highest estimate, is part of Superworth Pro.
Peers
Companies in Financial - Credit Services within ten times Mastercard's size, closest in size first.
| Company | Market cap | PE | Its 10y median PE | Fwd PE | P/S | Revenue growth | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAMastercard Incorporated | $499.4B | 31.4× | 38.6× | 14.2× | +16% | 46.3% | |
| VVisa Inc. | $694.8B | 31.6× | 33.6× | 15.6× | +14% | 50.8% | |
| AXPAmerican Express Company | $205.5B | 18.5× | 18.6× | 2.7× | +11% | 15.1% | |
| COFCapital One Financial Corporation | $120.2B | 12.1× | 11.9× | — | +45% | 17.0% | |
| Peer median | $205.5B | 18.5× | 18.6× | 9.2× | +14% | 17.0% |
About
- Chief executive
- Michael Miebach, since 2021Joined 2010, CEO since 2021.
- Industry
- Financial - Credit Services
- Sector
- Financial Services
Valuation data, not investment advice. Prices as of .