Visa: More than just credit cards

Article Excerpt

Visa has shot up 310.5% since we first recommended it at $19 (adjusted for a 4-for-1 share split in March 2015) in our December 2010 issue, but we think it still has plenty of room to rise. The company will continue to benefit as consumers switch from cash to credit and debit cards, and it’s well-positioned to profit from the continued growth of online shopping. Meantime, its popular and well-respected brand is helping it expand in developing countries. VISA INC. $79 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 2.4 billion; Market cap: $189.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 13.9; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network, through which it processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions. The company’s systems can process over 56,000 transactions per second. Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges the card issuers and merchants that use its network. These are based on transaction…