A Very Warm Welcome to Visa's IPO

A company which has been hogging headlines in a positive light is Visa (V): 58.65 +14.65 +33.30%, the largest U.S. credit-card provider. Visa made its debut on the the New York Stock Exchange, and its shares rose as high as $69 a share. Visa launched the largest initial public offering in U.S. history ever, pricing its shares at $44, raising $17.9 billion in total. It is hard to believe such a well-known company is only publicly listed now. Investors are flocking to snap up Visa shares: it carries zero credit risk and merely processes transactions in exchange for fees, which have been steadily rising for years, including the past two U.S. recessions in 1991 and 2001. This is unlike American Express (AXP): 42.58 -1.13 -2.59%, and Discover Financial Services (DFS): 15.56 -1.84 -10.57%, which make credit-card loans to consumers. JPMorgan (JPM): 43.17 +0.46 +1.08%, will reap a big windfall of $1.25 billion from the Visa IPO as it is Visa's biggest customer and shareholder. JPMorgan saw its shares rise more than 3%, making the stock the biggest winner on the Dow (DJI): 12226.17 -166.49 -1.34%.

Another major investment bank released earnings on Wednesday which surpassed markets' expectations. Morgan Stanley's (MS): 44.24 +1.38 +3.22%, income from continuing operations fell 42% to $1.55 billion, or $1.45 a share, in the first quarter ended February 29, from $2.31 billion, or $2.17 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 17% to $8.3 billion. The earnings of $1.45 per share is higher than analysts' average estimate of $1.03 a share on revenue of $7.3 billion. shares, leading its stock to rise 7% to $45.88 on Wednesday morning in New York trading.

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[User 172125:]

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2008 May 07 02:07 AM