Visa Inc.

VISA INC. $246 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 618.3 million; Market cap: $152.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.5; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) gets most of its revenue from fees it charges card issuers and merchants for using its network. It bases its fees on payment volume and transactions processed, among other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa.

The company continues to profit as more people shop online, and debit cards are quickly replacing cash for smaller transactions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear an appeal of a class-action lawsuit by retailers seeking to lower the fees credit card companies charge. That cuts Visa’s risk.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

VISA INC. (New York symbol V; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network, through which it processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions.

Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges the card issuers and merchants that use its network. It bases these fees on transaction volumes and other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa.

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VISA INC. $257 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 620.0 million; Market cap: $159.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.8; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network, through which it processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions. Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges the card issuers and merchants that use its network. It bases these fees on transaction volumes and other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa. Thanks to the continued growth of online shopping, which has encouraged more credit and debit card use, Visa’s revenue rose 57.5%, from $8.1 billion in fiscal 2010 to $12.7 billion in 2014 (fiscal years end September 30)....

VISA INC. $257 (New York symbol V; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 620.0 million; Market cap: $159.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 12.8; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.visa.com) operates the world’s largest electronic payments network, through which it processes credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions. Visa gets most of its revenue from fees it charges the card issuers and merchants that use its network. It bases these fees on transaction volumes and other factors. The banks that issue the cards are responsible for evaluating customer creditworthiness and collecting payments, not Visa.

Thanks to the continued growth of online shopping, which has encouraged more credit and debit card use, Visa’s revenue rose 57.5%, from $8.1 billion in fiscal 2010 to $12.7 billion in 2014 (fiscal years end September 30).

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RUSSEL METALS INC., $31.50, symbol RUS on Toronto, reported strong quarterly results this week. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Russel’s revenue rose 30.4%, to $1.04 billion from $796.8 million a year earlier. The company’s metal-services business raised its prices in response to higher demand, increasing its revenue by 14% in the latest quarter. The energy products division, which supplies pipes for oil and gas exploration and development, saw its revenue jump 41%....

VISA INC., $241.43, New York symbol V, hit an all-time high of $242.50 this week after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. In its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter, which ended September 30, 2014, Visa’s earnings rose 13.8%, to $1.4 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings gained 17.8%, to $2.18 from $1.85, on fewer shares outstanding. The latest earnings exclude a $450-million lawsuit settlement. On that basis, they beat the consensus estimate of $2.10 a share. Revenue rose 8.6%, to $3.23 billion from $2.97 billion, also beating the consensus forecast of $3.19 billion....

We still think investors will profit most—and with the least risk—by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.

These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.

Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects.

Here are 20 stocks we think meet those criteria:

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The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, Chevron, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo, IBM, Pfizer, Verizon and AT&T. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....