Mastercard Keeps Charging Ahead
Key Points
Mastercard continued to post consistent, healthy growth in revenue and profits.
CEO Michael Miebach pointed to the success of bringing on exclusive partnerships and other collaborations as a key driver of Mastercard's performance.
Gains in cross-border volume point to resilience in global capital flows despite trade tensions.
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Here's our initial take on Mastercard's (NYSE: MA) second-quarter financial report.
Key Metrics
| Metric | Q2 2024 | Q2 2025 | Change | vs. Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $6.96 billion | $8.13 billion | +17% | Beat |
| Adjusted earnings per share | $3.59 | $4.15 | +16% | Beat |
| Gross dollar volume | $2.40 trillion | $2.63 trillion | +9.6% | n/a |
| Total Mastercard-branded cards | 3.01 billion | 3.25 billion | +8% | n/a |
A Masterful Performance From the Card Giant
Mastercard has done a good job of consistently generating growth quarter in and quarter out, and the second quarter of 2025 was no exception. Revenue of $8.13 billion and adjusted earnings of $4.15 per share both topped expectations by a notable amount. Strict discipline with cost controls helped lead to Improvements in operating margin. In addition, the weakness of the U.S. dollar tended to boost Mastercard's performance slightly in comparison with currency-neutral financial metrics.
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CEO Michael Miebach called out the extension of Mastercard's exclusive partnership with American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) as one key example of how the card giant is winning deals with important partners. Branded cards have become immensely important in cementing relationships between major merchants and card companies, and Mastercard sees itself competing at the top levels.
At the same time, Mastercard is also going beyond simple payment transactions. Value-added services in areas like security and authentication are increasingly adding to sales, and they help distinguish Mastercard from other payment network providers as well.
Immediate Market Reaction
Mastercard investors had a mildly positive response to the company's financial report. Shares were up about 1% in the first 45 minutes following the release of the quarterly results. The move comes in the context of somewhat choppy performance for the stock so far in 2025, as concerns about the volatile trade environment raised issues about whether Mastercard could see transaction volume grow less quickly. Most of those concerns appear to have faded, at least in light of actual numbers that Mastercard is seeing from its business.
What to Watch
In particular, Mastercard's cross-border payment network volume jumped 15% year over year on a local-currency basis. That suggests that the slowdown in global transactions that some economists have predicted hasn't yet materialized. Even though it's too early to sound the all-clear on that front, Mastercard's experience is encouraging for those who have feared a more dire macroeconomic impact from tariffs.
Mastercard has done a good job of building a diversified business that thrives not just from rising payment volumes but also from add-on services that are becoming increasingly important in today's digital marketplace. The company seems confident about its future, and so far, things are all going Mastercard's way.
Helpful Resources
- Full earnings report
- Investor relations page
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Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Mastercard. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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