Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström

MasterCard Incorporated (MA) Information Technology - IT Services | Reports April 28, Before Market Opens

Key Takeaways:

• The Estimize consensus has forecasted EPS of $0.87, 2% higher than the Street, and revenue expectations of $2.379 billion.
• Strategic partnerships and China are expected to be a big part of Mastercard’s strategy to diversify and grow internationally
• Consumer and credit spending has picked up in recently and appears to be on the right track this quarter
• What are you expecting for MA? Click here to estimate!

MasterCard, the world’s second largest electronic payments network, is scheduled to report first quarter earnings early Thursday morning. With positive earnings surprises from Visa (V) and American Express (AXP), MasterCard is in a good position to succeed. The Estimize analysts are calling for EPS of $0.87 and revenue of $2.379 billion slightly higher than Wall Street’s estimates of $0.85 and $2.378 billion.

MasterCard has been in talks to acquire UK based central payment processor, VocaLink. The acquisition could work wonders for MasterCard as the company reestablishes its presence overseas. The deal would include important features of VocaLink including its mobile payment app, Zapp, and a payment network that could threaten Visa.

International markets have become increasingly important for MasterCard. Since 2011, roughly 60% of total revenues have come from global markets such as Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

China appears to be the real focus of MasterCard’s future expansion. Consumption in China is modeled to grow by 15% in the next 5-10 years and MasterCard’s partnership with UnionPay may help the firm acquire significant portion of those gains. The Asia Pacific region is projected to account for 25% of total global card transactions by 2018.

MasterCard will continue to benefit as cash transactions continue to lose favor with consumers. Credit and plastic based transactions have steadily rising and are expected to account for 67% of global transactions by 2017.