The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has MasterCard (MA) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.
MasterCard is one of 259 individual stocks in the Business Services sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. MasterCard is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MA's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that MA has returned about 5.5% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of 2.2% on a year-to-date basis. This means that MasterCard is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
One other Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Paysign, Inc. (PAYS). The stock is up 156.6% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Paysign, Inc.'s current year EPS has increased 20.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, MasterCard belongs to the Financial Transaction Services industry, a group that includes 35 individual stocks and currently sits at #88 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 3.7% this year, meaning that MA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Paysign, Inc. is also part of the same industry.
Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to MasterCard and Paysign, Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
