Mastercard Incorporated
MA
recently introduced the digital payment service of the leading tech giant
Apple Inc.
AAPL
– Apple Pay in Kuwait. The benefits of the launch can be reaped by MA’s cardholders across the country.
With an easy set-up process and the consequent addition of Mastercard credit or debit cards on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac, Apple Pay will equip cardholders to engage in seamless and secure digital payments. All they need to do is place their Apple devices within close proximity of a payment terminal that accepts Mastercard contactless payments.
Mastercard is offering the opportunity to its Kuwait cardholders to use Apple Pay while purchasing a wide variety of commodities at diversified places including grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, coffee shops, online stores and parking to name a few.
Apple Pay ensures each of the transactions is carried out safely by alloting and storing a unique Device Account Number in the Secure Element. The Secure Element, an industry-standard, certified chip, was devised for the safe storage of payment information on a device. This facility of not storing card information directly on the device or on Apple servers eliminates the chances of compromising the consumers’ confidential data.
Apart from benefiting consumers, payment services like Apple Pay seem to be of great use to merchants as well. The security feature injected within Apple Pay might save merchants from incurring huge losses in case of fraudulent transactions, which often occur due to the widespread adoption of digital payments.
The recent decision to launch Apple Wallet in Kuwait reflects Mastercard’s efforts to offer expanded digital payment options to simplify the daily payments of the country’s consumers and gradually move toward a cashless society. The move also indicates MA’s target to occupy a significant share of the rapidly-growing digital payments market in the country. It is also likely to generate higher revenues for Mastercard as usage of Apple Pay, which ensures secure transactions, will attract more customers to engage in the increased usage of Mastercard-branded cards during transactions.
The broader motive of Mastercard in establishing a strong presence across any of the Middle East countries can be clearly reflected through the latest move. The Middle East continues to witness a booming digital economy driven by factors such as increased Internet penetration and higher usage of smartphones. Thereby, Mastercard, backed with an innovative digital suite, is keeping an eye on capturing the digital growth prospects of the region.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 12.2% in the past six months compared with the
industry
’s 8.5% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Mastercard currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the
Business Services
space are
Barrett Business Services, Inc.
BBSI
and
Clean Harbors, Inc.
CLH
. While Barrett Business Services sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Clean Harbors carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
The bottom line of Barrett Business Services outpaced estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average beat being 49.05%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBSI’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 31% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 12.5% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for BBSI’s 2022 earnings has moved 4% north in the past 60 days.
Clean Harbors’ earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 38.20%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLH’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 99.5% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 35% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for CLH’s 2022 earnings has moved 7.1% north in the past 60 days.
Shares of Barrett Business Services and Clean Harbors have gained 35.3% and 40.3%, respectively, in the past six months.
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