MasterCard Inc

Goldman Sachs, which expects the S&P 500 to rise to 5,100 in 2022, is advising investors to look at high-margin stocks. Should you buy them?

PayPal’s (PYPL) chief financial officer, John Rainey, mentioned partnering with Amazon (AMZN) during a recent Credit Suisse technology event. He didn’t clarify whether the companies were still in active talks.

PayPal reported that its payment transaction per active account increased 12.0% year-over-year in 1Q17.

On Thursday, PayPal stock rose 2.6% and closed at $168.05 after an analyst upgrade. At the last closing price, PayPal’s market cap was $197.3 billion.

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The US GDP increased at an impressive rate of 1.9% for the third quarter. The growth beat the expectations of around 1.6% for the quarter.

By 2020, Apple aims to double its Services revenue from 2016. Meanwhile, the iPhone is looking less and less important for the company.

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Visa’s (V) fourth-quarter results benefited from the growing global trend of cashless transactions.

Statista projects that the total value of global digital payment transactions could increase to ~$5.41 trillion in 2022 from ~$2.75 trillion in 2017.

Over the past few years, Mastercard’s (MA) revenues have remained consistent.

Visa (V) saw a rise of 13% in total operating expenses on a YoY (year-over-year) basis in fiscal 1Q18. It incurred $1.5 billion in expenses in fiscal 1Q18 compared to $1.4 billion a year earlier.

In the case of bitcoin, the safety of the system is linked with the bitcoin algorithm, which miners keep solving to generate new coins and maintain the system.

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As of September 30, 2016, Visa (V) has reported a total asset balance of $64.03 billion. As of June 30, 2017, the company managed to report a total asset balance of $64.00 billion.

PayPal (PYPL) processed $99.3 billion in payment volumes in 1Q17, up 23% year-over-year.

PayPal concluded 1Q17 with ~203 million active registered accounts, up from 197 million in 4Q16 and 184 million a year earlier.

American Express’s (AXP) Global Merchant Services segment is expected to see a marginal increase in its net income in 2Q17.

American Express (or Amex) (AXP) has entered into digital partnerships with Airbnb, Facebook (FB), and Uber in order to offset the revenue loss from Costco (COST).

Visa (V) boasts a significant advantage in terms of its worldwide acceptance. This availability lent to the network effect’s being the source of the company’s moat.

Payment processors are now seeing improved performances on increased spending, new technologies, expansion into global markets, and the stable US dollar.

Visa (V) reported total transactions of $30.2 billion in fiscal 3Q16, compared to $27 billion in fiscal 3Q15—a growth of 11.8% year-over-year.

American Express’s Global Commercial Services’ total revenues net of interest expense fell by 9% to $817 million in 3Q15, forming 10% of its total revenues.

Discover Financial Services (DFS) is a direct bank and electronic payment services company in the US. It offers an array of banking products.

Of the four American Express segments, the Global Network and Merchant Services segment has shown the highest growth over the last two years.

Visa’s open-loop payments network connects and manages the exchange of information between issuers and acquirers.

MasterCard enables consumers and businesses to use electronic modes of payment instead of cash and checks. MasterCard’s payment network is the second largest in the world, behind industry leader Visa.

MasterCard’s digital platform MasterPass streamlines the retail sale and purchase process for the consumer and the merchant.

Cash and checks constitute ~85% of the retail payment transactions worldwide. However, electronic payment methods are increasingly replacing cash and check payments globally.

MasterCard’s revenue sources include transaction processing fees, as well as fees for fraud-prevention products and services.

The US accounts for 32% of MasterCard’s total gross dollar volume. The Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa contribute 31%, and Europe accounts for 27% of the total volume.

MasterCard focuses on growth in its core business of credit, debit, prepaid offerings, and processed transactions. It seeks to diversify its customer base, including smaller merchants and consumers who still use cash and checks.