Market Currents

• Tuesday, December 8, 2009

• 13:18 PM Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) step in with their own small-business stimulus, mailing out $1.1B in checks to 634,000 U.S. merchants in the final installment of a 2003 $3.4B antitrust settlement ahead of schedule. "The timing of these checks couldnt be better," NRF's Tracy Mullin says. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 08:16 AM MasterCard (MA): Q3 EPS of $3.48 beats by $0.54. Revenue of $1.36B (+1.9%) in-line. Gross dollar volume +0.3%. Purchase volume +0.4%. Shares +3.3% premarket. (PR) 1 Comment
• 00:05 AM Notable premarket earnings: ABC, ACOR, ADM, AMT, ANR, CAM, COL, CTSH, EMR, EXPD, FTR, GET, HCP, HNT, ICE, JOE, JRCC, LPX, MA, MHS, MRO, MVL, NXG, OSK, PER, PKD, PQ, RCL, RDC, RL, SNH, TE, TEVA, THC, TLM, VIA, VNO Comment!

• Wednesday, September 9, 2009

• 11:44 AM Seeing a stabilizing credit-card sector, Citigroup (C) upgrades Capital One Financial (COF +5.1%) to a buy with a $44 target, and MasterCard (MA +0.8%) to hold, with a $209 target. 4 Comments

• Thursday, July 30, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: CIT +19%. EMKR +12%. CVC +11%. BT +11%. ARIA +11%. IRE +10%. HIG +10%. MOT +8%. NWL +8%. AKRX +7%. MA +7%. AIB +7%. ALU +7%. GE +6%. RTP +6%. ELY +5%. ARMH +5%. GNW +5%. AXL +7%. RCL +5%. TSM +5%. EGLE +5%. LVS +5%. YGE +5%. BCS +5%. MGM +4%. BHP +4%. SOL +4%. MT +4%. CLF +5%. CNO +4%. USU +4%.
  Losers: PCBC -17%. AKAM -16%. INO -12%. GMR -9%. TOO -9%. SYMC -9%. CATY -7%. GHL -6%. CTV -6%. Comment!
• 08:23 AM MasterCard (MA): Q2 EPS of $2.67 beats by $0.25. Revenue of $1.28B (+2.7%) in-line. Net revenue was up 7% on a constant currency basis. Gross dollar volume was down 0.6%; purchase volume was down 0.7%. Shares +7% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Thursday's open: ABC, ABX, ADP, ALU, AOC, APA, ARTG, AVP, AVY, AZN, BC, BCRX, BDX, BEN, CI, CINF, CL, CLI, CMI, CMS, CNX, COL, COV, CVC, DLR, DOW, EK, ENDP, EXPE, FAF, GT, GTI, HP, INCY, IP, IRM, K, KBR, KIM, KSU, LVLT, MA, MOT, MYL, NBL, NRG, NWL, NYX, OCR, OMX, OSK, PCZ, PH, PTEN, RDS.A, RGC, RYN, SBH, SNE, SPR, TEN, TRV, TSM, TYC, VTR, WMI, WYNN, XEL, XOM Comment!

• Sunday, July 26, 2009

• 13:30 PM MasterCard (MA) is underrated, writes Barron's Bill Alpert, and could see its shares break $200 as it plays catch up with larger rival Visa (V). Comment!

• Wednesday, July 15, 2009

• 11:55 AM Capital One's (COF +9.4%) chargeoff rate rises to a frightful 9.73% from 9.41%, but deliquencies declined for the fourth straight month to 4.77%, which may be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Institutional chargeoffs were down to 9.26% from 9.77% in May. (8-K) COF's peers are broadly higher: AXP +6%. DFS +4%. MA +2.8%. V +2.7%. 2 Comments

• Wednesday, June 24, 2009

• 18:38 PM With a P/E ratio of 16.9, Heard on the Street says investors may be overpaying for American Express (AXP). Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) (at just 12.9x 2010 earnings) look like better buys. Comment!

• Tuesday, June 23, 2009

• 09:53 AM Banks may try to share the haircut: Analysts say proposed changes to credit card interchange rates - the fees retailers and merchants have to pay to banks that issue credit cards - could pinch MasterCard (MA) and Visa (V), even though they don't collect the fees. Comment!

• Friday, June 19, 2009

• 18:39 PM Ajay Banga joins the parade of executives leaving Citigroup (C), moving from head of Citi's Asia-Pacific business to chief operating officer at MasterCard (MA). Comment!

• Friday, May 22, 2009

• 10:34 AM Sources say MasterCard (MA) will lose more than half of a $59B portfolio of U.S. debit card users after JPMorgan (JPM) decides to shift more business to Visa (V). Comment!

• Tuesday, May 19, 2009

• 14:14 PM Senate passes credit-card crackdown bill which promises to curb sudden rate hikes and hidden fees. Largely anticipated, but credit-card issuers are still looking weak: C +4.1%. BAC -0.5%. JPM -1.9%. AXP -3.2%. DFS -3.5%. COF -4.1%. MA -2.4%. V -2.4%. 5 Comments

• Monday, May 4, 2009

• 10:44 AM Shrinking consumption hurting credit card companies? "The secular shift from cash to electronic payment forms continues to provide strong growth opportunities as we see worldwide processed transactions and new card issuances increasing." - MasterCard's (MA) Q109 earnings call transcript. Comment!

• Friday, May 1, 2009

• 09:02 AM Premarket gainers: COT +39%. CTIC +26%. AMAG +20%. DSCO +15%. SWIR +13%. IRE +12%. DRYS +10%. HGSI +8%. OREX +7%. AMCC +6%. MFE +6%. EGLE +6%. PCX +6%. EROC +6%. EXM +5%, APKT +5%. SQNM +4%. ETFC +4%.
  Losers: ESLR -15%. NVAX -12%. HIG -11%. MA -4%. Comment!