Visa Inc. (V)

Grows revenue at 12% clip, and EPS faster than that. Unlevered balance sheet. Trading at 10-year low on valuation. Despite perceived threats, every right to win in the agentic world. 

At worst it will be AI-neutral, at best AI will be incremental to the runway. As movement of $$ increases, Visa tends to get paid. There is real risk from the interbank clearing system, but there's no better place than Visa if you want credentials and high levels of trust. Yield is 0.85%.

Theory is that with agentic AI, we don't need V for payment rails anymore. For the past decade, has grown at 10-11% on revenue and that's expected to continue. Trading at a discount to its history, yet business is as robust as ever. Long-term hold. Yield is 0.90%.

One of two dominant players in the space. Considered more international. Credit card companies actually make a vast amount of $$ on the foreign exchange for transactions.

Mastercard is growing slightly faster but Visa is more popular. 16% growth for MC and 12% growth for Visa. People are traveling more and when they cross borders this means lots of money for the two companies. It has been impacted by the AI fears. Hold at these levels.

Price is bouncing around due to profit-taking and market volatility. Somewhat tied to the US dollar. Incorporating stablecoin, which should propel it going forward. Keep holding. Prefers V to MA.

Are worries that the economy will crack and the consumer is weak, but data does not support this. Visa transactions are growing 7-9%. Their PE has re-rated lower, historically.

Likes Mastercard a little more, but likes both. Periodically, they sell off. They are cyclical in terms of the market loving and not loving them.

Overhang has been potential disruption in digital payments. Lagged S&P, and multiple's come down. Benefiting from the broader theme of moving from cash to credit. Growing revenues 10-11%. It'll come through this OK. Probably 15% earnings growth. Valuation not stretched at 22-23x PE. He's positive.

His firm owns MA instead. 

A network for digital payments, the largest in the world. This allows it to be the most profitable. Valuation quite reasonable. Over time, as more and more transactions have gone digital, it's been a primary beneficiary and he expects this to continue. Part of the business model assumes anti-competitive penalties from time to time.

In terms of AI, they're already incorporating it across the platform to make security more robust or to detect fraud. As well, the networks of V and MA are very difficult, perhaps impossible, to replicate. That's what allows its moat to endure.

The stock has been flat the past year, trades below the market multiple and consumers will get their tax rebate and spend.

They are among the highest-quality businesses in the world. They get knocked around occasionally over concerns about interchange fees or PayPal or something threatening them. There's always something. If you own, you've done very well, and have a long-term horizon. Doesn't prefer one. You can own both. Buy it and forget it.

First-rate operation. As a value investor, not attracted to it simply because of the multiple (always high). Not surprised by recent flat performance -- it could just be stock price catching up to the multiple. As earnings grow, you may eventually get a margin of safety.

As global economy and GDP increase, and as inflation keeps at its clip, the nominal value of sales will go up. That will benefit a company like Visa. People will be spending more $$, and Visa takes a percentage of every dollar.

Concerns on earnings and its moat. Wondering if some erosion in the moat to fintech competitors (slowly now, but accelerating). So high PE may no longer be justified.

Trump wants major banks to open up competition on credit cards. It is not a law yet but if that happened it should be manageable for Visa. It has the largest global network of the four credit card companies in the US. Its operations are scalable and it can pull back on operations, expenses and consumer rewards.                  Buy 42  Hold 7  Sell 0