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Mastercard (MA) Strengthens Banking Ties, Maintains Dividends

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is one of Goldman Sachs’s top growth stock picks. On February 12, Mastercard Incorporated’s (NYSE:MA) open finance technology became the backbone of Truist Financial’s first-ever open banking platform. Truist will use Mastercard’s open finance API network to replace the risky practice of credential-sharing with tokenized, permissioned API connections. The technology acts as the secure bridge between Truist’s banking systems and third-party fintech applications, and gives consumers full control over who accesses their data and for how long.

Truist is Mastercard’s latest and most prominent US bank partner on this open finance push. Mastercard’s own research projects that global open banking usage will double by 2027. It also estimates that 100 million US consumers already connect their bank accounts to third-party financial apps, a market Mastercard is actively positioning itself to facilitate.

Bart Willaert, Mastercard’s EVP of Open Finance for the Americas, commented on the development and stated that “secure, convenient financial experiences are a gamechanger – but trust is the critical ingredient to ensuring clients and businesses can tap into their full potential.”

Meanwhile, Mastercard’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.87 per share on February 10. All stockholders of record as of April 9, 2026, will receive the payment on May 8, said Mastercard.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) operates a global payments network that facilitates electronic transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and governments. Its services include credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial card programs, as well as digital payment solutions and fraud prevention technologies.

While we acknowledge the potential of Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MA and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 11 Best Alternative Energy Stocks to Invest In According to Analysts and 13 Best Infrastructure Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

The $250 Trillion AI Hype is Real. A few years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.

Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

And here’s the wild part — this $250 trillion wave isn’t tied to one company, but to an entire ecosystem of AI innovators set to reshape the global economy.

It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

The answer lies in a breakthrough so powerful it’s redefining how humanity works, learns, and creates.

And this breakthrough has already set off a frenzy among hedge funds and Wall Street’s top investors.

What most investors don’t realize is that one under-owned company holds the key to this $250 trillion revolution.

In fact, Verge argues this company’s supercheap AI technology should concern rivals.

Before I reveal the details, let’s talk about how some of the richest people on the planet are positioning themselves.

  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

Even as we admire what Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft have built, we believe an even greater opportunity lies elsewhere…

But the real story isn’t Nvidia — it’s a much smaller company quietly improving the critical technology that makes this entire revolution possible.

And judging by what I’m hearing from both Silicon Valley insiders and Wall Street veterans…

This prediction might not be bold at all:

A few years from now, you’ll wish you’d owned this stock.

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Buy This $3 Stock Now Before the 400% Surge Begins

Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

My name is Inan Dogan. I’m the co-founder and Research Director of Insider Monkey. I have an important message for you today.

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We looked under the cover and realized they were wrong.

We alerted our subscribers, and BTI returned 90% in just 16 months.

Now if you had invested just $10,000 in BTI in June 2024, you’d be sitting on $19,000 in October 2025.

Today, we have identified a nearly identical pattern in a digital-first giant trading at $3.

While the market panics over a surface-level revenue decline, our PhD-led research shows management has actually surgically cut $100 million in waste to focus on high-margin growth.

This pattern is a hallmark of our 16.5% annual return track record. The current opportunity offers a 400% upside potential—dwarfing even our 90% BTI return.

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