Key Stock Updates for NVIDIA, Meta Platforms, and Alibaba
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Sep 12 2025
0mins
Should l Buy MA?
Source: NASDAQ.COM
Zacks Research Daily Highlights: The report features research on 16 major stocks, including NVIDIA, Meta, and Alibaba, along with a unique focus on micro-cap stock Medalist Diversified REIT, showcasing the best outputs from Zacks analysts.
NVIDIA's Performance and Challenges: NVIDIA has seen a 48.8% increase in shares due to AI growth, but faces supply limitations and rising production costs, alongside competition from AMD and geopolitical tensions.
Meta Platforms Growth and Investment: Meta's shares rose 46.7% as user engagement increases, particularly in Asia, but the company is concerned about the time required for monetizing its AI services despite significant future investments.
Alibaba's Financial Results and Risks: Alibaba's shares surged 83.6% with a reported revenue increase, but faces challenges from competitive pressures, operational costs, and macroeconomic uncertainties affecting earnings.
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Analyst Views on MA
Wall Street analysts forecast MA stock price to rise
28 Analyst Rating
25 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 521.930
Low
500.00
Averages
660.00
High
739.00
Current: 521.930
Low
500.00
Averages
660.00
High
739.00
About MA
Mastercard Incorporated is a technology company in the global payments industry. The Company connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, digital partners, businesses and other organizations worldwide by enabling electronic payments and making those payment transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. It provides a range of payment solutions and services using its brands, including Mastercard, Maestro and Cirrus. It operates a payments network that provides choice and flexibility for consumers, merchants and its customers. Through its proprietary global payments network, it switches (authorizes, clears and settles) payment transactions. Its additional payments capabilities include automated clearing house (ACH) transactions (both batch and real-time account-based payments). It offers security solutions, consumer acquisition and engagement, business and market insights, gateway, processing and open banking, among other services and solutions.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Rate Decision Impact: If the Fed cuts rates, bond yields will fall, easing financial conditions and prompting more investors to take on debt and shift towards riskier investments, which could broadly benefit the financial sector.
- ETF Performance Mechanism: Direxion's Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares ETF (FAS) aims to triple the daily performance of the S&P Financial Select Sector Index, which includes 76 top financial stocks, with major holdings like Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan.
- High Expense Ratio: Direxion charges a high expense ratio of 0.89% for FAS to cover interest payments to banks, which adds to the cost for investors seeking high returns while also facing significant expenses.
- Short-Term Trading Tool: While FAS may spike if the Fed adopts a dovish stance, it remains a short-term trading tool rather than a reliable long-term investment, requiring investors to exercise caution.
See More
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- Disconnect Between Data and Sentiment: Despite rising economic output and stock market gains, ordinary Americans are feeling increased financial pressure, as evidenced by credit card debt reaching a record $1.28 trillion in Q4 last year, indicating that economic prosperity is not benefiting the majority.
- Uneven Inflation Impact: According to Morgan Stanley, lower-income consumers faced significantly higher inflation rates for food and housing in 2024 compared to wealthier counterparts, exacerbating the gap between economic growth and consumer confidence and highlighting social inequality.
- 'Hiring Recession' in Job Market: While economic output per hour hit new highs, ordinary workers are anxious as the job market tightens, with December job openings falling to their lowest level since 2020, reflecting the disparity in economic benefits between high-income stockholders and the general workforce.
- Crisis of Trust in Economic Data: Surveys reveal that nearly 60% of Americans believe the economy is in recession, particularly among low-income households facing unstable financial situations, leading to a decline in trust in government economic data and highlighting the significant gap between economic prosperity and public sentiment.
See More
Ericsson Partners with Mastercard to Enhance Global Money Transfers
- Collaboration Enhances Financial Services: Ericsson's partnership with Mastercard aims to expand digital wallet services and streamline cross-border payments by integrating Ericsson's Fintech Platform with Mastercard Move, targeting unbanked and underbanked communities.
- Market Coverage and User Base: Ericsson's fintech platform operates in 22 countries, serving over 120 million active users and processing more than four billion transactions monthly, demonstrating its strong capabilities and demand in the mobile payments sector.
- Stock Performance and Market Trends: While the broader market showed mixed performance, Ericsson's stock rose 3.8%, indicating positive influences from company-specific factors, with a 41.34% increase over the past 12 months, nearing its 52-week high.
- Future Earnings Outlook: Ericsson is set to report earnings on April 14, 2026, with an estimated EPS of 12 cents and projected revenue of $5.72 billion, highlighting the company's ongoing growth potential in financial performance.
See More
Cloudflare Partners with Mastercard to Enhance Cybersecurity
- Strategic Partnership Highlight: Cloudflare's collaboration with Mastercard aims to provide cybersecurity tools for small businesses and critical infrastructure, enhancing organizational defenses against increasing cyber threats by combining Mastercard's attack-surface monitoring with Cloudflare's application security portfolio.
- Market Performance Analysis: Despite the significant partnership announcement, Cloudflare's stock is underperforming amidst a broader decline in the technology sector, which fell 0.56% in the previous trading session, indicating a cautious market sentiment that may impact Cloudflare's short-term performance.
- Stock Price Trend: Currently trading at $197.88, Cloudflare's shares are up 16.02% from their 12-month performance, reflecting a strong upward trend over the past year, although the 52-week range of $89.42 to $260.00 suggests ongoing market interest in its future performance.
- Analyst Outlook: Cloudflare is set to release its financial update on May 7, 2026, with analysts maintaining a Buy rating and an average price target of $240.72, indicating confidence in its future growth potential, despite a recent downward adjustment in EPS estimates.
See More
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- AI Design Conversion Feature: Figma has partnered with Anthropic to launch the 'Code to Canvas' feature, which converts code generated by AI tools into editable designs, aiming to enhance team efficiency despite the risk of AI tools potentially replacing design roles.
- Market Reaction: Since its IPO last summer, Figma's stock has plummeted approximately 85% from its 52-week high of $142.92, reflecting the broader malaise in the SaaS sector amid what traders are calling the 'SaaSpocalypse'.
- Industry Impact: As AI tools continue to advance, the design refinement step may be skipped altogether, posing a challenge to Figma's market positioning and potentially affecting its future user retention and market share.
- Upcoming Earnings Report: Figma is set to release its earnings report after market close on Wednesday, with high investor interest in how the company plans to navigate current market pressures and competitive dynamics.
See More
Trump Administration Pressures Credit Card Rate Caps
- Government Pressure on Issuers: The Trump Administration is once again pressuring credit card issuers to lower interest rates, with White House trade advisor Peter Navarro stating on Bloomberg Radio that rates as high as 22% to 30% are exploitative, reflecting strong governmental dissatisfaction with the financial industry.
- Legislative Challenges: Despite Trump's call for a 10% cap on credit card rates, implementing such a cap requires Congressional action, which is unlikely given the financial industry's commitment to oppose the proposal, highlighting the difficulties in passing such legislation.
- Market Reaction: Navarro's statements led to declines in the stock prices of major credit card issuers, with JPMorgan Chase, American Express, and Citigroup experiencing drops of 6.9%, 5.6%, and 9.9% respectively over the week, indicating market concerns over government intervention.
- Optimistic Bank Outlook: While the likelihood of a credit card rate cap appears low, the potential for future Federal Reserve rate cuts is brightening the outlook for bank stocks, as falling short-term rates could enhance bank profitability, prompting investors to consider buying bank stocks during this dip.
See More
