Mastercard Earnings: Settling Into a Groove

We think Mastercard’s third-quarter earnings largely mirrored what we saw from Visa, although Mastercard appears to be performing a bit better at the margin. In recent quarters, we’ve seen pandemic, political, and macro effects dissipate, and we see this quarter as further evidence of stability. We think Mastercard’s attractive long-term growth prospects and its strong profitability become more clear in this type of situation. We will maintain our $465 fair value estimate for the wide-moat company and see shares as about fairly valued.