Mastercard (MA) was on track to snap seven consecutive sessions of losses on Tuesday as the stock rose 1.60% to $552.74 during afternoon trading.
Since October 24, the stock has closed in the red every day until November 3, during which period MA lost over 5%. On a year-to-date basis, it has inched up 4.26% lagging behind the 16.50% rise in the S&P500 index.
On October 29, MA ended -2.01% weighing down on the company’s share price. The loss came ahead of the firm’s third-quarter results.
Additionally, a report revealed on the same day that Mastercard was in late-stage talks to acquire Zerohash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure startup, for $1.5B-$2.0B.
The company reported a double beat during its Q3 print the following day, driven by robust consumer spending and strong growth in its value-added services segment
Despite the healthy results, Seeking Alpha analysts YR Research downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy, arguing that its growth premium over competitor Visa (V) has narrowed to multi-year lows.
“To me, the main topic of discussion should be the payment volume growth gap from Visa reaching a multi-year low. Even more, in the United States, Visa’s volume growth surpassed Mastercard’s for the first time in many years. This is a sign of what’s to come in my view, as Mastercard’s usual tailwinds for higher growth have reached their potential,” the analyst said.
Overall, Seeking Alpha analysts have a Buy rating on the stock with Wall Street analysts echoing a similar recommendation. However, Seeking Alpha’s quant rating has a Hold call for the stock. Mastercard has been graded an A+ for profitability but an F for valuation.