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Let’s dig into the relative performance of Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and its peers as we unravel the now-completed Q1 credit card earnings season. Credit card companies facilitate electronic payments and extend revolving credit to consumers. Growth comes from increasing digital payment adoption, cross-border transaction growth, and value-added services for cardholders and merchants. Challenges include regulatory scrutiny of fees and practices, competition from alternative payment methods, and potential credit losses during economic downturns. The 6 credit card stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q1. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates. Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 6.7% since the latest earnings results. Recognizable by its iconic "Priceless" advertising campaign that has run in over 120 countries, Mastercard (NYSE:MA) operates a global payments network that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, and businesses, enabling electronic transactions and providing payment solutions. Mastercard reported revenues of $8.40 billion, up 15.8% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 1.8%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with a decent beat of analysts’ EBITDA and revenue estimates. Unsurprisingly, the stock is down 6.5% since reporting and currently trades at $491.11. Read why we think that Mastercard is one of the best credit card stocks, our full report is free. Formerly known as Alliance Data Systems until its 2022 rebranding, Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) provides credit cards, installment loans, and savings products to consumers while powering branded payment solutions for retailers and merchants. Bread Financial reported revenues of $1.02 billion, up 4.9% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.3%. The business had an exceptional quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS and net interest margin estimates. Although it had a fine quarter compared to its peers, the market seems unhappy with the results as the stock is down 9.7% since reporting. It currently trades at $83.43. Is now the time to buy Bread Financial? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Recognizable by its iconic green logo and the slogan "Don't leave home without it," American Express (NYSE:AXP) is a global payment...

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is among the stocks with the best earnings growth for the next 10 years. On May 5, BMO Capital reaffirmed an Outperform rating and a price target of $580 on Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA). In its analysis, the firm highlighted the robust Q1 results, with the company delivering beats on both revenue and earnings. While noting the company’s greater exposure to Middle East travel relative to its peers, BMO Capital said that Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) doesn’t have promising catalysts for the rest of the year. With that said, improved clarity on the end of the Iran tensions or favorable travel trends will be priced into the stock quickly in the months ahead. With a strong ROE, MA is among the stocks with the best earnings growth for the next 10 years. Bornfree / Shutterstock.com Several other analysts revisited their stance on Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) after the first-quarter win. On May 2, Paul Golding, an analyst at Macquarie, cut the company’s price target to $665 from $675 and reiterated an Outperform rating. According to the firm, the consumer is “solid,” and Crypto, AI, and value-added services are the “key drivers.” UBS, too, lowered the price target on the company from $650 to $640 and maintained a Buy rating a day earlier. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a New York-based financial technology company that offers payment-related products and services. Founded in 1966, the company serves a diverse range of customers, including individuals, digital partners, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. While we acknowledge the potential of MA as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years Disclosure: None. Follow Insider Monkey on Google News.

Berkshire Hathaway purchased new stakes in Delta and Macy's during Greg Abel's first quarter as CEO of the conglomerate, a filing Friday showed. The company also cut its stakes in Amazon, Mastercard, UnitedHealth, Visa and several others. Berkshire Hathaway is shaking up its portfolio after getting a new CEO. The conglomerate added new stakes in Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Macy's (M) during Greg Abel's first quarter as CEO, a regulatory filing Friday showed. Warren Buffett stepped down as CEO at the end of last year after six decades at the helm, though he has said he is still involved in investment decisions. Shares of Delta added 3% in extended trading Friday following the news, after losing 2% during the regular session on a down day for broader markets. Macy's stock jumped more than 5% in the after-hours session. Investors have been eager to see how Berkshire's investment strategy could change under CEO Greg Abel, who replaced legendary investor Warren Buffett in the position earlier this year. Berkshire's (BRK.A, BRK.B) new stake in Delta totaled 39.8 million shares at the end of the first quarter, while it held roughly 3 million shares of Macy's, making both far smaller stakes than Berkshire's largest holdings. Shares of Delta, which have taken a hit recently amid worries about rising fuel prices as the war in Iran drags on, have added just 1% since the start of the year, while Macy's stock has lost nearly 17%. Meanwhile, Berkshire more than tripled its stake in Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) to close to 58 million shares from 17.8 million in the fourth quarter. Apple remained its largest holding, with close to 228 million shares—unchanged from the previous quarter, after three straight quarters of cuts. The company also eliminated its stakes in Amazon (AMZN), Mastercard (MA), UnitedHealth (UNH) and Visa (V), among others. UnitedHealth shares dropped more than 4% in after-hours trading, while shares of the other three companies were little-changed. The choices to exit those stocks could potentially point to changes Abel's made to offload the picks of Todd Combs, who left Berkshire for JPMorgan at the end of 2025. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway have lost about 4% since the start of the year, compared to the S&P 500's roughly 8% gain, amid some uncertainty about Abel's leadership and the loss of a "Buffett premium." Read the original article on Investopedia

Berkshire Hathaway boosted its stake in Alphabet to nearly 58 million shares on March 31 from almost 18 million shares at year-end.

Klarna Group plc KLAR reported first-quarter 2026 loss per share of a penny, a 96.2% improvement from the year-ago loss of 26 cents. The bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 18 cents. Quarterly revenues jumped 44.4% year over year to $1.01 billion and topped the consensus mark by 7.6%. The quarter was supported by higher transactions, GMV, reflecting higher consumer engagement, a widening merchant network and increased interest income. Klarna Group plc price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Klarna Group plc Quote Klarna continued to expand both sides of its payments network in the quarter. Active consumers climbed 21% year over year to 119 million, while merchants rose 49% to 1.075 million, underscoring broadening distribution and adoption. Under the hood, GMV growth remained balanced geographically, with U.S. GMV rising 39% to $7.1 billion and global GMV outside the United States increasing 31% to $26.6 billion. Product mix also kept shifting, with point-of-sale installments (Fair Financing) GMV rising 138% year over year and representing 12% of total GMV. Total GMV of $33.7 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.5%. Transaction and service revenues increased 29% year over year to $671 million (beating the consensus estimate by 4.2%), while interest income advanced 56% to $284 million (beating the consensus estimate by 18.8%. On a geographic basis, revenues in the United States rose to $399 million from $238 million a year ago, while Germany delivered $221 million and the U.K. contributed $111 million. Transaction margin dollars (TMD) reached $389 million in the quarter, up 44% year over year. That growth tracked revenue expansion and reflected improving unit economics as the loan book matures. Costs tied to transactions climbed alongside volume and product mix. Processing and servicing costs increased 62% year over year to $266 million, while funding costs rose 32% to $171 million. Provision for credit losses totaled $186 million, and the provision rate was 0.55% of GMV, supported by seasonally stronger credit performance and continued maturation of the Fair Financing portfolio. Net income reached $1 million, improving from a net loss of $99 million a year ago, translating to a 0.1% net income margin. Klarna ended the quarter with $2.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents, which declined from $3.8 billion at 2025-end. Total asse...

By Jarrett Banks Corpay, Inc. (NYSE: CPAY) delivered the kind of quarter that shifts the narrative from a solid payments company to a potential long-term compounder. Across Wall Street brokerage reports, the themes were the same: accelerating Corporate Payments momentum, improving Lodging trends, durable double-digit organic growth, and a management team increasingly confident in the company’s long-term earnings power. First-quarter revenue climbed 25 percent year over year to roughly $1.26 billion, while adjusted EPS surged to $5.80, comfortably ahead of consensus expectations. Organic revenue growth reached 11 percent, marking the fourth consecutive quarter at that level, driven by standout performance in Corporate Payments and resilient Vehicle Payments trends. More importantly, management raised guidance. Corpay increased its full-year revenue and EPS outlook, with multiple analysts emphasizing that the guidance raise exceeded the quarter’s upside alone, signaling confidence in sustained momentum rather than a one-time beat. Both Deutsche Bank and Raymond James called the results “stellar,” while Wolfe Research described the company as moving “from strength to strength.” The engine behind the story continues to be Corporate Payments, which delivered 16 percent organic revenue growth, or roughly 18 percent excluding float headwinds. Analysts repeatedly highlighted Cross-Border Payments as a particularly powerful growth driver, with the Alpha integration progressing ahead of schedule and Mastercard partnership pipelines continuing to expand. Autonomous said the business is “disproving the stablecoin disruption narratives,” while Cantor Fitzgerald argued that industrial payment processors like Corpay possess deeper competitive moats than many investors appreciate. That shift toward Corporate Payments is becoming increasingly meaningful strategically. RBC noted the segment now represents roughly 40 percent of total revenue versus 34 percent a year ago, underscoring Corpay’s evolution away from its legacy fleet identity toward a broader B2B payments platform. At the same time, Corpay’s legacy businesses are holding up better than many expected. Vehicle Payments posted nearly 10 percent organic growth, with management expressing confidence that growth can remain in the 9-10 percent range throughout the year despite tougher comparisons ahead. Retention trends a...

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. FIS reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.36, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.3%. The bottom line advanced 12% year over year. Revenues amounted to $3.3 billion, which improved 30% year over year. The top line beat the consensus mark by 0.7%. The strong quarterly earnings were driven by solid performances in the Banking Solutions and Capital Market Solutions segments, supported by recurring revenue growth, margin expansion and acquisition benefits. However, the upside was partly offset by higher cost of revenues and increased selling, general and administrative expenses. Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. Quote The cost of revenues increased 32.3% year over year to $2.2 billion in the quarter. SG&A expenses of $605 million rose 8.4% year over year. Net interest expenses of $197 million increased 146.3% from the prior-year quarter’s figure. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.3 billion, up 36% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 176 basis points year over year to 39.6%, primarily driven by acquisitions, a favorable business mix and cost savings initiatives. Revenues from the Banking Solutions unit totaled $2.4 billion, which grew 45% year over year. The metric surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%. The segmental results gained from solid margin expansion. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved 299 bps year over year to 43.7%, supported by cost management and a favorable revenue mix. The Capital Market Solutions segment’s revenues advanced 5% year over year to $823 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.5%. Strong recurring revenue growth benefited the metric. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 51.6% expanded 162 bps year over year. The Corporate and Other segment recorded revenues of $98 million, which increased 12% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $158 million. Fidelity National exited the first quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $755 million, which increased from $599 million as of 2025-end. Total assets of $43.5 billion were up from $33.5 billion at the end of 2025. Long-term debt, excluding the current portion, amounted to $16.8 billion, up from $9.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025. The current portion of long-term debt totaled $101 million. Short-term bo...

Financial services technology solutions provider Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. FIS is set to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 8, 2026, before the opening bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter’s earnings is currently pegged at $1.28 per share,and the same for revenues is pinned at $3.27 billion. The first-quarter earnings estimate witnessed two downward revisions against no movement in the opposite direction over the past 60 days. However, the bottom-line prediction indicates a 5.8% year-over-year increase. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues implies year-over-year growth of 29.3%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research For full-year 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fidelity National’s revenues is pegged at $13.75 billion, implying a rise of 28.8% year over year. Meanwhile, the consensus mark for the current year EPS is pegged at $6.27, implying growth of around 9% on a year-over-year basis. Fidelity National’s earningsbeat the consensus estimate in two of the last four quarters, met once and missed on another occasion, with the average surprise being 0.6%. Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. Quote Our proven model predicts a likely earnings beat for the company this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is precisely the case here. FIS has an Earnings ESP of +0.17% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Banking Solutions revenues indicates a 37.7% year-over-year increase. The acquisition of Global Payments’ Issuer Solutions business, which was closed in January, is likely to boost the performance of the segment. The consensus mark indicates a 7.2% increase in revenues from Capital Market Solutions compared with the same quarter last year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Banking Solutions’ adjusted EBITDA indicates a 42% year-over-year increase. The consensus mark for Capital Market Solutions’ adjusted EBITDA indicates 11.9% year-over-year growth. The factors stated above are likely to have positioned FIS for year-ove...

Affirm Holdings, Inc. AFRM posted third-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings of 30 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 76.5%. The metric rose from 1 cent a year ago. Net revenues were $1.04 billion, above management’s expectation of $0.97-$1 billion, representing a 32.6% year-over-year rise. The top line surpassed the consensus estimate by 4.1%. AFRM’s strong quarterly results can be attributed to higher interest income and solid Gross Merchandise Volume growth. Higher transactions and repeat customer engagement also boosted performance. The results were partly offset by an elevated expense level and rising provision for credit losses. Affirm Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Affirm Holdings, Inc. Quote As of March 31, 2026, AFRM’s active merchants were 515,000, up 44% year over year. Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of $11.6 billion, which climbed 35% year over year, exceeded management’s guidance of $11-$11.3 billion. The figure also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $11.2 billion. The metric was aided by strong contributions from direct merchant point-of-sale integrations, wallet partnerships and direct-to-consumer offerings. Total transactions rallied 45% year over year to 45.3 million on the back of a significant surge in repeat customer transactions. The metric beat the consensus mark of 42.2 million. Active cardholders surged more than doubled to 4.4 million, lifting the card attach rate to about 17%. Servicing income of $44.6 million advanced 39.2% year over year and came in line with the consensus mark. Interest income rose 32.2% year over year to $532.4 million and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $504.1 million. Merchant network revenues improved 25.3% year over year to $268 million but missed the consensus mark of $271.7 million. The metric gained from a growing GMV. Card network revenues amounted to $66.5 million, which increased 13.5% year over year, attributable to the higher usage of Affirm Card and Affirm virtual cards. The metric missed the consensus mark of $72.8 million. Total operating expenses increased 20.1% year over year to $950.3 million due to higher loss on loan purchase commitment, funding costs, processing and servicing, and technology and data analytics expenses. Provision for credit losses escalated 33.5% year over year to $196.5 million. Sales and marketing expenses dropped 1.6% yea...

Paypal (NASDAQ: PYPL) came into Q1 2026 as a company in the middle of a reset and still managed to beat across the board. Revenue landed at $8.35 billion versus expectations of $8.05 billion. Adjusted EPS came in at $1.34, comfortably ahead of the $1.27 estimate. Total payment volume hit $464 billion, up 11% year over year, the highest in its history. And yet, the stock fell almost 9% before the market even opened. That kind of reaction usually means the headline numbers are not the real story. In this case, it comes down to guidance and how you interpret it. What Actually Worried Investors For Q2 2026, PayPal expects non-GAAP EPS to fall about 9% compared to last year. For the full year, it is guiding to flat or slightly lower earnings versus $5.31 in 2025. On the surface, that is not great. A company that just beat expectations is basically saying the next stretch could look worse. But there is an important detail that did not get much attention. PayPal is intentionally loading most of its costs into 2026. It is reorganizing teams, shifting roles, and rolling out AI across the business. All of that hits profits now. The payoff is supposed to come later, mainly from 2027 onward. So this is less about weakness and more about timing. They are choosing to take the hit upfront. Check out Buy or Sell PYPL Stock and see how PYPL's key metrics compare with peers such as Block (XYZ) and Affirm (AFRM) A New CEO, Very Early Days Enrique Lores took over as CEO on March 1, 2026, after running HP for six years. He is not from the payments world. He is known for restructuring large, complex businesses. His first big move was to split PayPal into three focused units: Checkout and core PayPal Consumer financial services and Venmo Payment services and crypto The idea is simple. Different businesses need different strategies. Keeping everything under one structure was slowing things down. Breaking it up creates clearer ownership and accountability. He is also targeting at least $1.5 billion in cost savings over the next two to three years and plans to cut about 20% of the workforce. That sounds aggressive, but this is a company generating $6.8 billion in free cash flow. It is not a survival move. It is about improving margins. See also, What GameStop’s $55B Bid For eBay Means For Investors The Buyback Story People Are Missing While everyone is focused on guidance, PayPal is...

Global Payments, Inc. GPN reported first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.96, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.82. The bottom line rose 10% year over year. Adjusted net revenues improved 29.5% year over year to $2.9 billion. The top line beat the consensus mark by 1.3%. The strong quarterly earnings benefited from early momentum from the company’s streamlined commerce focus and continued uptake of its Genius platform, including an approximately 90% year-over-year increase in bookings. However, the positives were partly offset by elevated operating expenses. Global Payments Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Global Payments Inc. Quote The Worldpay acquisition and the sale of Issuer Solutions both closed on Jan. 9, 2026, reshaping Global Payments into a more focused commerce solutions platform. Adjusted operating income of $1.1 billion increased 22.1% year over year in the quarter under review. Adjusted operating margin expanded 110 basis points (bps) year over year on a normalized basis to 39.9%. Total operating expenses of $3 billion increased 106.1% year over year in the first quarter. The increase was due to higher selling, general and administrative expenses, and cost of service. Interest and other expenses rose 63.2% year over year to $242.4 million. Global Payments exited the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $5.9 billion, which decreased from $8.3 billion at 2025-end. Total assets of $64.3 billion rose from $53.3 billion at 2025-end. Long-term debt amounted to $21 billion compared with $19.5 billion at 2025-end. The current portion of long-term debt totaled $1.6 billion at the first-quarter end. Total equity of $24.5 billion rose from the figure of $23.6 billion at 2025-end. GPN’s operating activities used $288.8 million of cash in the first quarter of 2026, down from $555.1 million generated a year ago. The company entered into a $500 million accelerated share repurchase program. GPN repurchased shares worth $549.9 million in the first quarter of 2026. The company declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share, which will be paid out on June 26, 2026, to its shareholders of record as of June 12. Adjusted net revenue growth on a constant currency basis, excluding dispositions, is still expected to be around 5% in 2026. Adjusted EPS growth is still anticipated to be between 13% and 15% in 2026....

PayPal (PYPL) beat Q1 2026 earnings with $8.4B revenue (up 7% YoY) and $1.34 adjusted EPS, but guided Q2 EPS to decline 9% YoY, sending shares down 10% as forward metrics are weighted heavily by fintech investors. PayPal’s strategic review of a potential Venmo spin-off, combined with a three-segment restructuring, offers catalysts for re-rating, but forward earnings deceleration and mounting competitive pressure from fintech challengers suggest near-term stabilization is uncertain. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and PayPal wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) shares are tumbling roughly 10% in early trading Tuesday morning to about $45.50, after the company reported a Q1 2026 earnings beat alongside a soft Q2 outlook. The stock closed Monday at $50.39 before the report. The slide extends an already painful run. PYPL stock entered the earnings report down 13% year to date and 25% over the past year, with shares off a punishing 80% over five years. The Q1 numbers were strong on the surface. Revenue came in at $8.4 billion, up 7% year over year (YoY), with adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34. The catalyst for selling sits in the forward guidance. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and PayPal wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. PayPal guided Q2 2026 adjusted EPS to a 9% YoY decline, signaling that the Q1 beat was largely backward-looking. For fintech valuations, forward metrics carry more weight than trailing results, and a contracting EPS curve is hard to reconcile with growth-stock multiples. This pattern is familiar to PYPL shareholders. The beat-then-sell reaction has been a recurring theme for the stock, and today's move extends that pattern. Even a +14.53% Q1 2025 surprise produced only a 2% day-of move. Competitive pressure is part of the story. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) just printed a record Services quarter at $30.976 billion, while Visa (NYSE:V) and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) both delivered double-digit revenue growth in Q1 FY2026. Apple Pay, Stripe, Block, and emerging stablecoin rails continue to compress branded checkout share. Management is conducting a strategic review of Venmo, which generated $1.7 billion in revenue in 2025. A spin-off could unlock value if Venmo trades at a richer multiple as a standalone consumer brand, where investor sentiment...