VISA INC. $217 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 636.6 million; Market cap: $138.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.3; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) is gaining from rising online shopping and higher credit and debit card use, particularly overseas. The company also has no credit risk.
Moreover, Visa stands to benefit from the recent theft of credit card data from Target and Neiman Marcus. These incidents could spur new regulations that would force retailers to install chip-based card readers, which are more secure than magnetic-swipe devices and would cut down on fraud. Retailers would probably have to pay for these upgrades, not Visa.
Visa is a buy.