Dj Commercial National Financial, Inst Holders, 3Q 2024 (Cnaf)

Mastercard Incorporated MA recently collaborated with a Senegal-based fintech firm, New Africa Technology (NAT), in a bid to launch a virtual and physical prepaid card tied to NAT's digital wallet, "Flash."

Transactions through the wallet can be done using both virtual and physical prepaid cards, and a seamless payment experience is assured. It incorporates features like invoice splitting among multiple users, expense management, and budgeting tools. The app also works seamlessly with regional wallets, allowing for smooth transactions between users.

The innovative fintech card introduced with the help of Mastercard aims to bolster merchant support by facilitating payment acceptance via innovative methods such as QR Pay, Pay by Link, and contactless transactions. Additionally, it introduces "Flash in Business," a platform tailored to meet the corporate financial needs of businesses.

The ulterior motive of Mastercard behind the latest move remains to offer secure and diversified payment solutions and therefore, revolutionize the payment systems in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Benin.

The new card offering, infused with attractive features and technology advancements, is expected to attract new customers to indulge in spending to avail the benefits. Increased usage of the card may boost the tech giant’s net revenues from its global payment network by charging fees to customers based on the gross dollar volume of the cards.

Concurrent with the recent move, Worldpay introduced an innovative partnership with Mastercard to streamline supplier payouts and provide tailored solutions for travel agents. Worldpay, through the Mastercard Wholesale Programme, offers travel agents in the U.K. and Europe access to virtual cards, streamlining payment processes for clients.

Shares of Mastercard have gained 24.9% in the past year compared with the industry’s 31.8% growth. MA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Visa Inc.’s V Visa Direct recently collaborated with Zelis and Dash Solutions to modernize healthcare payments and streamline healthcare disbursements. This partnership is expected to deliver faster, more flexible, and more secure disbursement options to consumers, enhancing member experience.

This move bodes well for Visa as it will address the long-standing inefficiencies in the healthcare sector and reap benefits from higher transaction volumes through its network. Consumers will be able to receive payments within minutes after approval, speeding up the process that used to take weeks. Consumers will also be given the flexibility to choose their preferred payment method, like instant digital payments or traditional options. A seamless and more secure process is expected to reduce administrative burden too.

Through the integration of Visa Direct’s global payment network with Zelis' Advanced Payments Platform and Dash Solutions’ Dash Digital platform, healthcare payers can now offer real-time payment capabilities for reimbursements and claims. This move is expected to enhance Visa’s position in the healthcare industry, which is shifting toward digital transformation. The partnership allows Visa to secure a foothold in this rapidly evolving market, demonstrating its capability to address unique sector challenges such as payment delays, administrative inefficiencies and fraud risks.

Partnerships like this should aid Visa in achieving its goals, such as a net revenue growth expectation of high-single-digit to low-double-digit on an adjusted constant-dollar basis in fiscal 2025. Visa is expected to continue innovating in this space, leveraging its expansive global and real-time money movement network to deliver solutions to ongoing challenges.

Visa's Price Performance

Shares of Visa have gained 8.7% in the past month compared with the industry’s 8.4% growth.

V’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Visa currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors can look at some better-ranked stocks from the broader Business Services space, like Cantaloupe, Inc. CTLP, Envestnet, Inc. ENV and Repay Holdings Corporation RPAY. Each of these companies presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cantaloupe’s current-year earnings indicates a 113.3% year-over-year jump. CTLP beat earnings estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and met once and missed the other time. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $311.3 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Envestnet’s current-year bottom line indicates 22.2% year-over-year growth. The consensus estimate for ENV’s current-year top line is pegged at $1.4 billion, indicating 11.4% year-over-year growth.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Repay Holdings’ current-year earnings indicates a 4.6% year-over-year jump. RPAY beat earnings estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and met once. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $316.9 million.

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