Coverage of the shares of this global payments processor was just initiated by Bernstein with an ‘Outperform’ rating. The company is growing at double-digit rates, with four analysts raising its EPS forecasts in the past 30 days.
Visa Inc. (V)
From The MoneyLetter
Investing professional Elvis Picardo says that it pays to be defensive. Mr. Picardo is a Vancouver-based chartered financial analyst, chartered investment manager, and portfolio manager with HollisWealth, a division of Industrial Alliance Securities. One of his defensive plays is Visa Inc. (V), one of the world’s largest electronic payments network. Visa is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Foster City, California, United States. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world.
Visa processes close to US$9 trillion in transactions in 2016. “We began to acquire the stock in the low $80s for clients, as of the beginning of 2017,” says Mr. Picardo. It peaked at more than 50% higher in January, at US$126.88 per share, before retreating slightly. The analyst attributes the recent decline to profit taking.
Visa has indicated that it will grow fiscal 2018 revenue by seven per cent to nine per cent. The first fiscal quarter numbers (which coincided with the 2017 holiday season) bore out the trend, with operating revenue up nine per cent year-over-year on strong U.S. results. “Despite its size, it’s more of a growth story than a dividend play,” says Mr. Picardo.
“It’s been such a dominant player along with Mastercard. We’re becoming a cashless society. These two companies tend to benefit a lot from this big, secular trend.”
Keith Richards, The MoneyLetter, www.investorsdigestofcanada.com, 416-869-1177, April 2018 Second Report