Mastercard Inc. (MA, Financial)
While they are still below pre-COVID-19 expectations, Mastercard has continued to see purchases increase after the abrupt drop off in March. The hardest hit unit has been cross-border transactions which was down 36% last quarter. However, cross-border transactions are likely to rebound quickly once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and business starts to return to normal. In the meantime, Mastercard has focused on returning value to shareholders while maintaining a flexible balance sheet. In the third quarter alone, they repurchased 6.5 million shares for $2.1 billion while still finishing the quarter with over $10 billion is cash and cash equivalents. Mastercard also announced a 10% dividend increase in December to $0.44 per share.
From Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio)'s Auxier Asset Management fourth-quarter 2020 shareholder letter.
