10 Most Profitable Blue Chip Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

8. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 157

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) carries a profit margin of 45.88% and net income of $14.97 billion (FY25), securing its place on our list of the most profitable blue chip stocks to buy according to hedge funds, with analysts seeing 32.80% upside for the stock. That bullish outlook comes as Mastercard rolls out new infrastructure aimed at capturing a new growth opportunity in machine-driven commerce.

On June 10, 2026, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) introduced Agent Pay for Machines (AP4M), a new service designed to permit, orchestrate, and settle payments between AI agents and machines at high speed across its global network. More than 30 industry leaders, including Adyen, Stripe, Coinbase, Cloudflare, OKX, and Checkout.com, are among the first to support adoption.

Jorn Lambert, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)’s chief product officer, said Agent Pay for Machines will create the conditions for what he called a “superbloom of AI business models,” allowing services to be bought and sold among agents at far different scales than payments today, with very high volumes, very small values, and very low latency.

Unlike traditional point-of-sale payments, these transactions are programmatic and always-on, executed in the background of digital commerce. The service builds on Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)’s Agent Pay program, introduced in 2025, and supports credentialing, permissioning, transacting, and settlement across multiple payment types, including cards and stablecoins.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) said the system establishes trust through Verifiable Intent, letting every agent be recognized and transact across ecosystems, while organizations can set authorization rules and spending limits that are enforced programmatically.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) operates in the payments industry and is one of the leading payment processors for everyday consumers, financial institutions, governments, and businesses. The company is headquartered in New York, United States.