Mastercard (MA 1.01%) is a behemoth in the payments industry. The company helps facilitate commerce across the globe. In the latest quarter (Q2 2025 ended June 30), it handled a whopping $2.6 trillion in volume and processed 43.5 billion transactions. These key figures demonstrate Mastercard's scale.
The business has done a good job taking care of its shareholders, even in recent times. If you invested $10,000 in this financial stock exactly three years ago, here's how much money you'd have today.
Image source: Mastercard.
A winning investment
In the past three years, shares of Mastercard have generated a total return of 68% (as of Aug. 20). This means that a $10,000 investment would be worth $16,800 right now. That's a superb gain for a 36-month period of time, translating to a compound annual return of 18.9%. This gain makes the business a better performer during those three years than the overall S&P 500 index.
The stock's gain can be partly attributed to the company's underlying performance. Between the second quarter of 2022 and the most recent quarter, revenue increased by 47%. Diluted earnings per share climbed by an even better 74% during that time. Strong fundamental gains can help drive the share price higher.
Valuation concerns
Investors might be inclined to buy Mastercard stock after seeing how well it did in the past. While this is a wonderful business with an impressive track record of revenue and profit growth, the current valuation does look stretched. This unfavorable setup can limit upside going forward.
For those who want to buy the stock, you must be comfortable paying a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.5. That's an expensive valuation, so maybe it's best for investors to wait for a pullback before choosing to add Mastercard to their portfolio.
