Visa is just getting started

Article Excerpt

VISA INC. $183 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 792.0 million; Market cap: $144.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 10.9; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network. The company processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges card issuers and merchants for using its network. These fees are based on payment volume, transactions processed and other factors. The responsibility for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments lies with the banks that issue the cards, not with Visa. Cashless transactions fuel big gains The company continues to benefit as more people pay for purchases with credit and debit cards instead of cash or cheques. Its revenue rose 66.4%, from $6.3 billion in 2008 to $10.4 billion in 2012 (fiscal years end September 30). Earnings jumped 147.2%, from $1.7 billion in 2008 to…