VISA INC. $78 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 830.1 million; Market cap: $64.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.5; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest retail electronic-payments network. The company processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands.
The stock fell to $67 in December 2010 after the U.S. Federal Reserve proposed new limits on fees banks can charge for debit-card transactions. Visa gets about 20% of its revenue from debit-card transactions in the U.S.
Regulators now aim to make a final ruling on these fees by July 21, 2011. However, a new bill in the U.S. Senate would delay any changes to the current system for two years.
Meanwhile, Visa continues to profit as consumers switch from cash and cheques to credit and debit cards. In its 2011 second quarter, which ended March 31, 2011, revenue rose 14.6%, to $2.2 billion from $2.0 billion a year earlier.
Earnings rose 23.6%, to $881.0 million from $713.0 million. Earnings per share rose 28.1%, to $1.23 from $0.96, on fewer shares outstanding. During the quarter, Visa spent $630 million to buy back 8.7 million of its shares. It plans to buy back $1 billion of stock over the next year.
Rising transaction volumes were the main reason for the gains. The company processed 12 billion transactions in the quarter, up 13% from a year earlier.
Visa should earn $4.91 a share in 2011. The stock trades at a reasonable 15.9 times that estimate.
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