Joseph Carlson After Hours on $MA (Nov 2, 2026)

we have Mastercard, which is now my largest investment portfolio. Mastercard is an investment center with a value of $221,000. She has total earnings of $73,000. This mostly involves a capital increase, and then a few thousand dollars as dividends.

Now, Mastercard is a company that has performed excellently this year and over the past two years. Today, the stock rose by 3.4%, jumping to $660 per share. Looking at the company from the beginning of the year until now, it has risen by 17%, outperforming both the QQQ index and the S&P 500 index.

If we look at it over the past five years, it's exactly the same . It outperformed both indicators by a very large margin.

So, this is a company I've talked about time and time again as one of the most boring companies in the market, but it's also one of the most exceptional in the market. Most of Mastercard's financial metrics are truly unbelievable.

For example, let's look at the profit margin. This number is simply insane. This company's profit margin is 47%. This is actually close to Amazon's total profit margins. It's amazing.

Currently, the stock is trading at 659 and I believe the fair value is around $700 per share. This means potential gains of only 6% from today. Therefore, Mastercard is not a company that I believe is undervalued.

I think it's trading at a price close to its fair value.

First, we have a forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 30. That may seem expensive, but you have to look at the price-to-earnings ratio in the context of the company's economics.

Mastercard is a much better company than 99% of companies in the world. Therefore, it deserves a higher price-to-earnings ratio.

Looking at the company's subsequent valuation, it has recently experienced a significant recovery and its prices have rebounded tremendously. You can see that it was trading at a very low valuation in the middle of 2016, but it has recovered since then.

Now, it has returned to its usual price-to-earnings ratio over time. In fact, it is still slightly below the historical average price-to-earnings ratio .

When I look at Mastercard with a clear vision, I see a company that has now returned to where it deserves to be. The company is doing well. The latest earnings report showed continued strength.

I believe its competitive advantage is as broad as it always has been. The company is achieving record profits and has now returned to its usual historical average price-to-earnings ratio.

So, at $700 for a Mastercard , there's a small potential gain, but for me, it's to hold.

The shift from cash payments to digital payments over time is similar for Visa and Mastercard.