MasterCard Japan Co., Ltd. (Massachusetts – The European Cyber Resilience Centre (ECRC) was recently established to promote public-private cooperation and fight cybercrime. The move aims to improve resilience and combat cyber threats in Europe and Belgium.
The new center will strengthen defense systems against cyber threats, improve response times and serve as a center of cybersecurity leadership. In today's interconnected world, cybercrime has become a major challenge for organizations in all sectors.
With digitalisation and increased connectivity, fraudsters are adopting more sophisticated methods, creating a global cybercrime economy worth around trillions of euros. Through the new centre, the MA therefore aims to strengthen collaboration with national cyber intelligence centres, law enforcement agencies and industry associations across Europe.
This move bodes well for Mastercard as it strengthens its ability to detect and respond to cyber attacks. Investments in cybersecurity infrastructure could help the company retain its financial institution clients, thus positioning the company for the future. Moreover, Mastercard will likely be protected against significant financial losses from cyber attacks.
Given the growing risk of cybercrime, investment in cybersecurity is urgently needed, and the establishment of the ECRC will therefore be a key differentiator in the company's offering.
Mastercard has prioritized high standards of cybersecurity and data responsibility to safeguard customer transactions, which has enabled it to protect the 143 billion transactions the company processed in 2023, further demonstrating the timeliness of its latest moves. Such a strategy should enable Mastercard to achieve its low double-digit net revenue growth target in 2024.
Price Fluctuations
Mastercard shares have risen 18.7% over the past year, compared with the industry's 17% growth.
Zacks Rank and Top Stocks
Mastercard currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Some of the top-ranked stocks in the Business Services sector include: Global Payments, Inc. (GPN – Free Report) Paysafe Limited (european union – Free report) and WEX Corporation (Wex – free report ) currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), respectively. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate is calling for Global Payments' earnings of $11.63 per share in 2024, up 11.6% from the prior year. The company has beaten estimates in each of the past four consecutive quarters, with an average surprise of 1.1%. The consensus estimate for GPN's 2024 revenue is $9.2 billion, up 6.4% from the prior year.
The consensus estimate for Paysafe's earnings for the current fiscal year is $2.47 per share, representing a 6% increase over last year. The company has beaten expectations in three of the past four quarters and missed expectations in one, resulting in an average estimate of 18.3%. The consensus estimate for PSFE's 2024 revenue is $1.7 billion, representing a 6.5% increase over last year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WEX is calling for earnings per share of $16.26 in 2024, representing year-over-year growth of 9.8%. The company has beaten expectations in three of the past four quarters and missed expectations in one, for an average surprise of 3.3%. The consensus estimate for WEX's current fiscal year revenue is $2.7 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 7.6%.
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