Mastercard Incorporated, based in Purchase near New York, is a listed payment service provider and employed around 18,600 people in 2019. Alongside VISA, Mastercard is one of the two major international companies for payment cards (credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards).
Mastercard issues licenses to banks all over the world for the issuance of their cards (issuing licenses) and for the recruitment of contractors (acquiring licenses). The acceptance of the Mastercard is around 35 million contracting companies and around one million cash payment offices worldwide (as of 2014).
According to Mastercard's latest financial reports and stock price the company's current price-to-earnings ratio (TTM) is 45.9436. At the end of 2022 the company had a P/E ratio of 33.9.
The Price/Earnings ratio measures the relationship between a company's stock price and its earnings per share. A low but positive P/E ratio stands for a company that is generating high earnings compared to its current valuation and might be undervalued. A company with a high negative (near 0) P/E ratio stands for a company that is generating heavy losses compared to its current valuation.
Companies with a P/E ratio over 30 or a negative one are generaly seen as "growth stocks" meaning that investors typically expect the company to grow or to become profitable in the future. Companies with a positive P/E ratio bellow 10 are generally seen as "value stocks" meaning that the company is already very profitable and unlikely to strong growth in the future.