Visa Inc. (V)

He sold this past February. Strong quality earnings, risk/reward has become neutral. Investors are looking to faster-growing growth companies.

Both are phenomenal businesses. Comparable on valuation and share price performance. If you own one, don't switch.

His clients own Visa, and have for a very long time. Makes the most sense for him as more payments become digitized and V captures more market share. It's the largest payment network, so its profitability is a bit higher on margins. Bit north of 20x PE, FCF yield north of 4%. Attractive valuation for an essential business.

Digital payments are not going away. When it goes on sale, usually a mistake not to buy and then just sit back and wait. He's owned it personally for 17-18 years, probably his best investment.

An unassailable fortress for a long time. Fintech and card companies have been weak, with concerns about disruptive digital payment systems. Near-term uncertainty about long-term profitability.

Pretty dominant position. Still trading above long-term moving average. Lagging in this market. Not well inflation-protected. Put your focus elsewhere.

He owns Mastercard but not Visa. However they are both crown jewels in the market and good to buy. The rise in Agentic commerce and digital currency could be a concern but they have strategies o deal with it. The valuation has come down with multiple compressions.

Continually increases number of transactions. Beneficiary of modest inflation (hyper-inflation causes less spending), as it gets paid on the dollars spent. Very attractive multiple ~24x PE (historically it's ~30x). Yield is 0.81%.

He's out. Momentum has broken. Price is now below 200-day MA, and that's rolling over. Secular growth drivers are still there, for about 14% earnings growth at 23x PE. But it's more about valuation right now. If you think of it as technology, investors are seeing a lot more exciting names out there.

When technicals improve, he'd look at it again.

They reported a strong quarter with 9% volume growth. People are spending. Even if prices rise, Visa still makes money. Other areas are growing and amount to 30%, such as merchants hiring Visa to do marketing services cybersecurity fraud prevention. Also, there's room to expand to many parts of the world still using cash.

Owns this instead of MA because of the broader offering (including Europe). Net beneficiary of inflation. A category to buy on weakness, but only as it applies to V and MA for their quality (he doesn't like any of the others).

Buybacks, dividend increases, solid performer.