Mastercard shares declined 5.8% on February 23, 2026, as part of a broader selloff in financial services stocks. Investors reacted to a Citrini Research report that raised concerns about artificial intelligence's potential to disrupt payment, delivery, and software companies. The report suggested AI could trigger a race to the bottom in white-collar knowledge work, creating economic headwinds for payment processors that rely on transaction fees. The sector-wide pullback affected multiple financial firms, with American Express down over 7% and JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley each down 4% or more on the same day. Mastercard's stock price fell to $526.41 during this period. Despite the decline, analysts maintained positive outlooks, with Erste Group raising FY2026 EPS estimates and multiple analysts maintaining buy ratings with average price targets around $669.
Read full analysisMastercard shares declined 5.8% on February 23, 2026, as part of a broader selloff in financial services stocks. Investors reacted to a Citrini Research report that raised concerns about artificial intelligence's potential to disrupt payment, delivery, and software companies. The report suggested AI could trigger a race to the bottom in white-collar knowledge work, creating economic headwinds for payment processors that rely on transaction fees. The sector-wide pullback affected multiple financial firms, with American Express down over 7% and JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley each down 4% or more on the same day. Mastercard's stock price fell to $526.41 during this period. Despite the decline, analysts maintained positive outlooks, with Erste Group raising FY2026 EPS estimates and multiple analysts maintaining buy ratings with average price targets around $669.
Mastercard operates one of the world's two dominant payment networks alongside Visa, earning fees each time consumers and businesses use its cards for transactions across more than 200 countries. The company has been expanding into value-added services, open banking, and digital financial infrastructure through recent partnerships with Ericsson and Truist Financial. Its role as a transaction intermediary — earning revenue on payment volume and processing fees — places it squarely in the crosshairs of the Citrini Research AI disruption thesis, which envisions AI agents bypassing traditional payment rails to optimize transactions directly.