Visa Inc. (V)

Huge beneficiary in increase in e-commerce. Hasn't recovered as strongly as other tech names, mainly due to hit to travel. Expects travel to recover, so huge upside to both V and MA. Tremendous tailwinds as we go from cash to digital. A railroad for all other digital transactions. A must-hold.

He owns MA instead, but both stocks will have similar performance. MA has higher exposure to Europe and growth geographies. Both are high quality compounders. Both will benefit as we go to a cashless society and from the recovery of cross-border travel. Sees topline growth at 18%, and EPS growth up to 20%.

Likes both Square and PayPal. Highly leveraged to growth in e-commerce. Caters to both merchants and consumers. Perpetually expensive, though a bit cheaper recently. Right now, he'd lean toward Visa as a safer way to play the payment space.

Step back and realize that, despite the competition, many players still rely on Visa. It and MA have an extensive, established network. Merchants have to have it, and consumers want them to. Business model is protected. Cross-border transactions provide upside once the economy opens. Highly levered to e-commerce. Yield is 0.58%. (Analysts’ price target is $239.53)

V vs. MA vs. AXP Likes the story of both V and MA. They take no credit risk, just a tollbooth. American Express is very different, as they do take on risk. We're going to a cashless society. Great growth businesses, little capital expenditure. Lots of growth yet in Asia. Once travel starts up again, V numbers should pick up.

Likes Visa and Mastercard. Both driven by the same metrics. Trans-border transaction volume has declined due to less traveling. Paypal is very e-commerce driven. Has continued to buy Visa with new client money in anticipation for a pickup in leisure and business travel.

Owns Visa. If you look back to when it first became public, it has been a solid upward movement, bar the financial crisis. Effectively, it is the mechanism to fund purchases during Covid. Move away from cash will continue and it should be a structural grower. Prefers Visa, especially with Visa Europe that was incorporated into it. The two present the same risks.

MA-N and V-N are fairly interchangeable. He holds MA-N. He does not have a strong opinion one over the other. He does not have AMEX.