Company Update (NYSE:MA): U.S. holiday retail sales grow a "solid" 7.9 pct – MasterCard

[Reuters] – Strong online sales and demand for furniture and women’s apparel helped U.S. retail sales grow by a “solid” 7.9 percent this holiday season, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles and gas, had grown 5.5 percent in the period between Black Friday and Christmas Eve last year. Online sales grew 20 percent in the holiday season this year, MasterCard Advisors, which tracks customer spending, said in a report on Monday. Read more on this. MasterCard Incorporated (MA) , with a current value of $111.28B, began trading this morning at $98.15. During today’s session, MA traded between $97.86 to $98.46 with a one year range of $74.61 to $101.76. MA shares are currently priced at 29.43x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 23.97x earnings multiple for the same period. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $0.76 per share annually in dividends, yielding 0.78%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 35 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.72 per share, which would be $0.03 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.05 sequential decrease. Investors should also note that the full-year EPS estimate of $3.35 is a $0.25 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $2.56 Billion. If realized, that would be a 5.79% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Sterne Agee CRT Initiated MA at Buy (Dec 17, 2015). Previously, Credit Agricole Initiated MA at to Outperform. The average price target for MA shares is $111.76, which is 13.87% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:MA) Similar Articles: Company Update: MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA) – MasterCard Announces Executive Appointments Company Update: MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA) – MasterCard Transforms Aid Distribution Company Update: MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA) – MasterCard Delivers Android Pay to Cardholders in the U.S.