Microsoft, MasterCard Hit 52-Week Highs

These stocks reach 52-week highs on Wednesday.

By Alexandra Zendrian , Feb 22, 2012 1:55 PM EST

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Shares of

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

and

MasterCard

(MA) - Get Report

hit 52-week highs on Wednesday.

Both stocks were rated buy at

TheStreet Ratings

Microsoft

The software company has reached out to European Union antitrust regulators to help with a patent dispute among Microsoft,

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

and

Motorola Mobility

(MMI) - Get Report

, according to

Reuters

. Microsoft argues that Motorola is overcharging for the use of certain key patents.

Shares of Microsoft hit a 52-week high Wednesday of $31.68. The stock's 52-week low of $23.65 was set on June 16.

Microsoft has an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 10.44; the average for software companies is 30.54. For comparison,

Oracle

(ORCL) - Get Report

and

Intuit

(INTU) - Get Report

both have higher forward P/Es of 11.11 and 18.48, respectively.

Of the 40 analysts who cover Microsoft, 26 rated it buy. Thirteen analysts gave it a hold rating and one rated it sell.

TheStreet Ratings

gives Microsoft an A grade with a

$36.13

price target. The stock has risen 20.92% year to date.

MasterCard

The credit card company

previously hit a 52-week high

on Feb. 3 following its fourth-quarter earnings report.

"While countries like Brazil, India, and China typically get most of the Street'sattention, our analysis shows that countries such as Russia, Argentina, Indonesia, andVenezuela, could experience revenue

compound annual growth rate of

about 20-30%+ for both V and MA over the next few years, as the secular migration of cash to electronic payments plays out in conjunction with increased merchant terminalization," Jefferies analysts wrote in a report Wednesday. "V and MA's non-US markets are widely dispersed, providing a diversified source of growth opportunities, in our opinion."

Shares of MasterCard hit a 52-week high Wednesday of $407.62. The stock's 52-week low of $240.36 was set on March 1.

MasterCard has a forward P/E of 15.73; the average for consumer financial companies is 10.71. For comparison,

American Express

(AXP) - Get Report

has a lower forward P/E of 11.25;

Visa's

(V) - Get Report

forward P/E is 16.55.

Twenty-seven of the 37 analysts who cover MasterCard rated it buy. Ten analysts gave it a hold rating.

MasterCard gets a B grade from

TheStreet Ratings

with a