(NYSE: MA) and Visa (NYSE: V) have an effective oligopoly in the payment processing space. That's a good thing for their businesses in some ways, and a bad thing in others. But the good largely outweighs the bad, which helps explain Mastercard's 500%-plus share-price gain over the past decade. Nevertheless, the buy, sell, or hold decision on Mastercard stock isn't exactly an easy one.

To start with the positives, Mastercard's industry position is strong. While Visa is actually a bigger company, that doesn't change the fact that Mastercard is a giant that would be hard for a smaller competitor to displace or replace. As card-based payments grow, so, too, does Mastercard's business. There's no particular reason to believe that the upward trend in the payment processing industry is going to come to a sudden halt.

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Source Fool.com