Pacific Crest analyst Josh Beck shifted his preference to MasterCard (MA) from Visa (V) and upgraded the stock to Overweight from Sector Weight. Beck believes interchange legislation in Europe may have an unintended consequence of benefiting global open-loop payment networks, favoring both MasterCard and Visa. The changes are also positive for eBay's (EBAY) PayPal and mixed for American Express (AXP), Beck tells investors today in a research note. He points out his preference for MasterCard relative to Visa follows the latter company's outperformance over the past year. Beck has a $110 price target for MasterCard shares. The stock closed yesterday down 14c to $93.08.

Baird analyst David Koning raised the firm's price target on MasterCard to $545 from $525 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm thinks Q1 revenue/EPS beat mildly and guidance will be mildly raised. They like the stock over the course of 2024 as a steady grinder.

Baird raised the firm's price target on Visa to $320 from $314 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm thinks FQ2 revenue/EPS likely both beat mildly; and they like a lot as long-term compounder.