Mastercard Inc.

MA-N

It sold off a few days ago but it came back. It is overbought. It has been overbought for a while. The trend is good.

He owns both V-N and MA-N. He prefers MA-N a little because it is more exposed to international travel and it's more exposed to credit as opposed to debit cards. They are more future proof because of investments in alternative payment systems. He thinks a recession will not affect their business materially because of growth in electronic payments. But the equity will probably go down in a bear market. He does not predict a recession in the next 12 months.

Visa and Mastercard or Amazon They are two of the world's best companies, and you can own either. Amazon's growth is phenomenal AND their gross margins is increasing. He's about to buy it. There's tremendous growth for 3-5 years coming.

Visa vs. Mastercard He's owned both for 10 years. Now, Visa is slightly cheaper, but neither are cheap. 24x earnings for both. But growth is also high in the high-teens. PEG ratio is 1.3 for both. You can't go wrong with either.

Visa vs. Mastercard She likes this space. They're both into e-commerce where there is a lot of growth to come. Visa bought Visa Europe a year ago and are Integrating it which will make Visa more international than Mastercard. These companies aren't trying to gain market share from each other; they're both growing from cash/cheque to online payments.

It's been on fire. His rule is not to own more than 5% of a single stock in his portfolio, so he recently trimmed back to 5%. It's reaching its old high and slightly overbought, probably due for a pullback. You can take profits, but otherwise hold.

It is a secular theme that goes beyond the business cycle. They are more focused on emerging markets, where the industry is growing faster than domestically. It does not matter if the business cycle slows down or not. (Analysts’ price target is $235.70)

Visa vs. Mastercard He loves this sector. Both are fine companies. They don't take credit risk (the associated banks do). Instead, they do payment transactions, and here Visa (1.9 trillion) dwarfs its competitors combined. Visa also has a bigger debit card business and are more international oriented than Mastercard; Visa has now absorbed Visa Europe, which used to be a different company. Europeans use cash more than credit, so there's great opportunity here.

Trades in tandem with Visa. Looking at it, because they'd like exposure to emerging markets and MA is better positioned for this. Not cheap, but right now it's on sale. Rare to get a great company on sale.

Still has between 30 and 40% downside risk. Under no circumstance touch it. Same with Visa (V-N). Two companies that rode the momentum on the upside. Now they are coming down the other side. Valuation got too rich.

There is still lots of room for penetration in the credit card space in terms of the consumer not using cash but using plastic. You have to look at it long term. He feels there is still more upside. It's up 30% this year. V-N has a larger market share and has not had the same year as MA-T. You could say you are buying V-N at a slightly less rich a valuation. You will do fine on both long term. He does not own V-N because the dividend is less than 1%.

Global secular trend over the next 10 - 20 years. Use of digital currency and electronic payments will continue to expand. The growth in E-commerce is undeniable. Last Tuesday they announced a $6 billion share buy back and boosted the dividend by 32%. Forward P/E is 27 with 29% growth. Good growth company. (Analysts’ price target is $233.14)

Visa vs. Mastercard He owns Mastercard which has done better than Visa. But both companies are great. Pick one. But you're paying for the growth rate (they are expensive). Trading at 31x earnings. Be careful of sudden drops in stock price.

Bought it during the recent dip. They have 800 million cards around the world. Last year, they authorized a $4-billion share buyback. Boast 13 straight quarterly earnings surprises, high ROE and low leverage. (Analysts’ price target is $232.28)