Mastercard (NYSE: MA) reported second-quarter results on Thursday, and the update looked the way this company's updates usually look. While much of the market spends 2026 debating AI (artificial intelligence) capital budgets, Mastercard runs a business that needs almost none of that spending. Mastercard converted about 47 cents of every revenue dollar into net income in the second quarter, and it sends huge sums back to shareholders. The company repurchased $4.9 billion of its own stock in the second quarter alone, on top of a dividend that yields about 0.6%. Mastercard has earned $18.18 per share over the past 12 months, with earnings growing meaningfully faster than revenue.