Visa continues to impress

Article Excerpt

VISA INC. $275 is a buy. The company (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 2.05 billion; Market cap: $563.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 17.0; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.comwww.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic-payments network. It processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions in over 200 countries. Thanks to rising travel volumes and consumer spending, Visa processed 55.46 billion transactions in its fiscal 2024 second quarter, ended March 31, 2024. That’s up 10.8% from 50.07 billion a year earlier. As well, cross-border volumes (excluding transactions within Europe) improved 16%. As a result, revenue in the quarter rose 9.9%, to $8.78 billion from $7.99 billion. Earnings before unusual items also gained 16.7%, to $5.12 billion from $4.38 billion. The company spent $2.7 billion on share buybacks in the quarter, so per-share earnings jumped 20.1%, to $2.51 from $2.09. For all of fiscal 2024, Visa’s earnings will likely improve 14% to $10.00 a share. The stock, which is up 18% in…