Mastercard Incorporated (MA)

Mastercard (MA) stock has surpassed all expectations since I last covered it in April. Back then, shares of the payment processing giant changed hands for around $230 each. They closed out yesterday at just over the $340 per share mark. Call that a near 50% gain in a little under eight months – slightly more when inclusive of dividend cash. As you can imagine, those…

Finding a company that regularly sports a zero net debt position has not been easy over the past few years. The big technology firms look like the obvious exceptions to that rule, as do the large payment processors. That brings me to Mastercard (MA) stock, which ended the first quarter around 20% lower than it started. Aside from the insane profitability metrics, the state of…