Visa Inc. (V)

(A Top Pick Dec 16/15. Down 0.22%.) A really strong story with revenue growth in the high single/low double-digit. Margins are in the low 60% range. It has been a tough time for cyclicals until now, and we are beginning to see a lift.

(A Top Pick Nov 3/15. Up 2.7%.) The valuation is attractive. The big tailwind is that more and more companies are going to transactions that are not cash-based.

A good stock to own, but he doesn’t own it, because he prefers stocks that pay generous dividends. He doesn’t think it is going to be too far in the future where you are going to start seeing some of that cash returned in the form of a dividend.

With the US election of lower tax rates and the ability to repatriate profits from overseas, that would be a positive. He doesn’t see this or MasterCard (MC-N) slowing down anytime soon. There is a lot of growth inherently within both of these going forward. He would rather own Gemalto (GTO-NV), the company that provides the chip technology that they both use, which has also been hit with tough times.

This is really a consumer spending stock. If the US economy continues to strengthen and the European economy turns around, which he expects it to do, this company will continue to do well. The other story here is the charges. There has been pressure because of this.

This has done a fantastic job and is a great story on globalization and global spending. Trades at a very rich multiple. The company is subject to some technological disruption. It has the potential to reduce its costs through technology, but it is going to take investments up front to be able to stay on top of that. You have to be concerned that the major merger with Visa Europe, and the European community is being very aggressive in terms of the interchange fees that these card processor companies are able to charge. He is worried that as governments become more populous, Visa has some real vulnerability in terms of fee revenue it is going to be able to earn. With the stock trading at 32X earnings, he would be very cautious.

Historically, financial service stocks tend to do very well at this time of year, from mid-October to around the end of January. This recently broke through to a new high and is in gear again.

A powerful company. Hundreds of millions of people have their cards, so it is going to be very difficult if not impossible to displace that. There are a couple of trends that favour this company. Made a huge deal to buy EuroVisa, and they are actively working to increase card penetration in Asia, were penetration is only 20%. The cashless society is becoming a reality. An expensive stock, but has a huge growth runway in front of them. Dividend yield of 0.68%.

It consolidated in 2014 and broke out, a proper breakout. A perfect trend channel. He likes to buy this kind closer to the bottom of the trend line.

MasterCard or Visa? You could buy either, but thinks this one has a better footprint. Both are good. The whole idea of facilitating payments is a wave of the future, and will probably get to a world where there is limited or no cash usage. These companies are natural choices. Both are accepted all over the world.

A very, very nice chart. A series of higher lows and higher highs. This should continue to go higher. He wouldn’t be surprised to see this go to $90, but check your valuation. If it gets too expensive, maybe take some off the table.

A play on digital transactions, and this is the “front end” for almost all digital transactions. Digital transactions are growing at a very rapid pace. It is hitting a new relative strength high versus the market. The financials group is a group that you want to be in.

A little bit expensive here. A great, long term company, and you just try to buy on dips. You’re not going to get hurt on this one.

HD-N vs. V-N. Don’t focus on the current yield. He thinks V-N will deliver 20% dividend growth going forward. HD-N is also a high dividend grower. You need to decide which business you want. He would go with V-N because it is the largest electronic payment network in the world. They just completed the European acquisition and it should be very accretive.

We are less and less of a cash-based system, and this is one of those companies that is growing. Also, their international revenues are increasing. She sees this as a long-term, secular upward trend, and a good Buy.