By Sam Boughedda
Wedbush analysts told clients in a note Tuesday that Mastercard's (NYSE:MA) SpendingPulse data points to solid e-commerce and retail sales.
"MA's SpendingPulse holiday tracking data was essentially in-line with expectations," the analysts said in the note.
They added that there were a "number of interesting twists," including continued, solid strength in eCommerce (with PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) dominant), Black Friday retaining its title as the top spending day of the year, and restaurants having the strongest performance. In addition, the analysts, who have an Outperform rating on Mastercard, said electronics and jewelry posted the weakest performance.
"Online sales grew 10.6% compared to the same period last year, the preliminary insights show. This holiday season, e-commerce made up 21.6% of total retail sales, up from 20.9% in 2021 and 20.6% in 2020," explained the analysts.
"Black Friday sustains its title as the top spending day of the 2022 holiday season, up +12% year-over-year excluding automotive. This was followed closely by Saturdays in December," the analysts added.