In the latest trading session, MasterCard (MA) closed at $195.41, marking a -0.25% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.53%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.36%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.94%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the processor of debit and credit card payments had lost 1.54% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's loss of 0.69% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.47% in that time.

MA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 31, 2019. On that day, MA is projected to report earnings of $1.53 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 34.21%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.79 billion, up 14.44% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% higher. MA currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, MA is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 25.96. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.08.

Investors should also note that MA has a PEG ratio of 1.43 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Financial Transaction Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.33 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 210, putting it in the bottom 18% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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