Visa grows in mobile and online

Article Excerpt

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). Earnings nearly doubled in five years Earnings shot up 92.9%, from $3.0 billion in 2010 to $5.7 billion in 2014. Visa is an aggressive buyer of its own shares, including…