Visa hit with anti-trust suit

Article Excerpt

VISA INC. $270 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $540.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 16.0; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic-payments network. It processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions in over 200 countries. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an anti-trust lawsuit accusing Visa of using illegal measures to protect its 60% share of the debit card payment market. Those measures include imposing higher processing fees on merchants that use competing networks and paying providers of new electronic payment systems, such as Apple Pay, to not use cheaper technologies from start-up firms. The company has denied the allegations. The stock fell 5% on the news as long court cases are costly and increase uncertainty. However, the company has a history of dealing with legal challenges. Moreover, debit cards account for just 10% of Visa’s revenue, so new limitations on this business will…