Mastercard stock slips as it forecasts slower growth through 2027

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) stock fell 1.4% in Wednesday regular-session trading after the payment network said it expected annual revenue growth to slow from the pace it had introduced at its last investor day four years ago.

The company now expects net revenue compounded annual growth rate at the high end of low double-digits for the 2025 to 2027, down from its 2022-2024 performance objectives of net revenue CAGR in the high-teens percentage range. In addition, it expects EPS CAGR in mid-teens percentage from low-20s at the prior investor day.

However, it did increase its annual operating margin target to at least 55%, compared with the 50% minimum in 2021.

Keep in mind that the 2021 targets anticipated a strong recovery from the COVID recession in 2020.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) said it will invest for the long-term while delivering positive operating leverage.

The company highlighted technology that it expects to implement by 2030, including eliminating manual entry of card numbers and passwords for online shopping. Instead, Mastercard (MA) will rely on tokenization and on-card biometrics, such as facial recognition and fingerprints, to verify the identity of cardholders at checkout.

While Mastercard’s (MA) stock decline on Wednesday wasn’t very steep, it was still more than Visa’s (V) 0.1% dip.