For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in MasterCard (MA) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MA for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
MasterCard's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at MasterCard's main business drivers.
Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Purchase, NY, Mastercard Inc. is a leading global payment solutions company that provides an array of services in support of credit, debit, mobile, web-based and contactless payments, and other related electronic payment programs to financial institutions and other entities.
The company's payment solutions include payment programs, marketing, product development, technology, processing, consulting and information services. It also provides worldwide transaction processing and other payment-related services, which include facilitating the authorization, clearing and settlement process of transactions, as well as processing cross-border and currency conversion transactions.
In May 2001, the company was incorporated as a Delaware stock corporation. Mastercard has one reportable operating segment, Payment Solutions. Mastercard also reports its net revenues by geographical market. No individual country apart from the United States contributed more than 10% of net revenues in 2024. The company generated 30% of its revenues from the domestic market and the remaining from international markets.
The company manages and licenses payment card brands including MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus. The company generates revenues from the fees it charges its customers for transaction processing and other payment-related services. It also earns revenues by charging customers for assessments based on the gross dollar volume (GDV) of activity on the cards that carry MasterCard brands. Revenues of the company are based on factors such as cross-border volumes, number of transactions, GDV and pricing changes.
The company operates a unique and proprietary global payments network that links issuers and acquirers around the globe to facilitate the switching of transactions, permitting account holders to use a Mastercard product at millions of acceptance locations worldwide. Its core network facilitates an efficient and secure means for receiving payments, a convenient payment method for consumers to access their funds and a channel for businesses to receive insight that is derived from its network. Mastercard authorizes, clears, and settles transactions through its core network for issuer customers in more than 150 currencies and in more than 220 countries and territories.
Bottom Line
While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in MasterCard ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in April 2016 would be worth $5,378.15, or a 437.82% gain, as of April 16, 2026, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
The S&P 500 rose 237.52% and the price of gold increased 273.52% over the same time frame in comparison.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for MA too.
MA's acquisitions and collaborations are helping the company to grow addressable markets and drive new revenue streams. Net revenues rose 16% YoY in 2025 on the back of increased cross-border volume. The accelerated adoption of digital and contactless solutions is providing an opportunity for its business to expedite its shift to the digital mode. Strong cash flow supports growth initiatives and enables shareholder value-boosting efforts via repurchases and dividends. MA paid dividends of $2.8 billion in 2025. However, it's dividend yield is lower than the industry average. MA expects adjusted operating expenses to witness low double-digit growth on a year-over-year basis in 2025. Expenses are likely to rise due to accelerating investments. Rebates and incentives increased 16% YoY in 2025. As such, we reiterate our Neutral recommendation on the stock.
The stock has jumped 6.45% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2026; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).