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Visa (V) was the most anticipated IPO in a long time. Shares are currently well above their IPO price with yesterday's close at $65.04. Alot of people are very bullish on Visa. However, I am a bit concerned.
I would have to agree with most that Visa is a great brand and a great business. They are just like Mastercard (MA) in which they don't actually extend credit to customers but rather charge a processing fee. They are not exposed to bad debt as other companies are in this financial tsunami we are going through.
What concerns me most is the amount of shares that they have issued. They have over 775 million shares outstanding. That is an incredible amount of shares available to buy and sell. Mastercard has only 131 million. I am sure there are some lock up periods on shares issued to insiders but it becomes a question of supply/demand when those lockups expire. I would wait on this stock and purchase on a pull back.
The consumer is under pressure with the US in a much-talked about recession. Housing woes still persist. There is already a tremendous amount of debt that needs to be paid down before we can start charging like crazy again. Also the recent jobs report has pushed us above 5% unemployment. Longer term I think it will be a great brand to own. But I am bearish on it in the short term.
Disclosure: I do not hold any position on V as of this writing however I do trade it from time to time for both myself and clients.
This article has 74 comments:
FYI: ANYONE can 'publish' a comment. Unfortunately, this opens up the field to people like the author of this article who have little credibility in my eyes. I work on Wall Street (physically- not figuratively)- and have 22 years under my belt. I have owned to brokerage firms- and can tell you that Visa is one of the best stocks to become available to investors in the last five years.
Notice that as the negative articles have continued from this site the price of Visa has consistantly risen. It will continue to do so with small bumps along the way.
The growth prospects of Visa in China, India, Emerging Asia, South America, and Central and Eastern Europe are staggering. Once settlement is reached with the EU, Visa Europe will be merged back in to Visa - and the entire world becomes a huge market. Even without Visa Europe- the rest of the developed and developing world will continue to be one massive ATM for Visa.
Plastic is taking the place of paper currency- online and off- Visa will dwarf Mastercard in capturing new customers, new markets, and new niches. Social Security will be paid in debit cards- as will many other direct deposit vehicles.
The banks do not want the hassle that 'eliminating the middle-man would create'. Case in point is the sale of Dinners Club/Carte Blanche by Citigroup to Discover.
Both Discover and Amex were upgraded even in light of the fact that they are lenders and Visa is not.
Anyone that thinks Visa will not overcome its litigation and become one of the best performing big cap stocks in the next couple is either : a) Stupid, b) In denial, c) Doesn't understand the business model, or d) Can't afford to play and wants to spoil the game for you.
Visa will be 100$ by the end of the year, and that is conservative.
9
There is more to valuations than just looking at the number of shares outstanding. There are many best of breed companies out there that have outperformed despite having more shares than there competitors. I hope you don't exhibit the same shallow analysis when handling your client's money.
YOU CAN BUY VISA FOR $68(A TRAIN JUST LEAVING THE STATION)
YOU JUST KNOW VISA GOING TO BE $300 AND OVER(VISA IS BIGGER THEN MASTER CARD)
I THINK THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE JUST WANTS TO BRING THE STOCK DOWN SO HE CAN BUY AT $44 DOLLARS, IS IT GOING TO HAPPEN??????? ONLY WHEN THE HELL FREEZES OVER!!!!
JUST BUY THE STOCK AT MARKET, RELAX, AND WATCH YOUR MONEY MULTIPLY.
TURN ON CRUISE CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...
et
et
Anyways, I've been reading a lot of comments on here about V, and quite frankly I have to agree on being bullish on this stock. When 97% of brokers/analysts/inves... joes is being bullish, chances are the stock will do well. I saw a lot of these same types of sentiments with the GOOG IPO, and obviously, all the Bears at that time had to eat their words. I just think its a good sign when V is getting so much support from the general public.
I believe it is a great company, great brand with a "near" bullet-proof business model. The Wall Street types love that kind of stuff. I can see where the Bears are coming from on V, but in all likelihood, the stock won't crash and burn to under $50. Investors just won't let that happen. With that said, $100-$200 is being VERY optimistic as well. Only time will tell... V reports 2Q08 earning on 4/28/08, that will definitely show which way the stock will trade. Until then, THIS IS ALL SPECULATION!!! (But the banter is fun to read)
Just my $0.02, NOW GO SWIPE YOUR VISAS!!!
You have to be kidding, right? When everyone is bullish, that's bearish for the stock. And that's exactly why GOOG did well -- the IPO was a disaster.
On Apr 08 04:56 PM take my $$$ wrote:
> Frankmeister, you had me LOL in the office... that was hilarious!
>
>
> Anyways, I've been reading a lot of comments on here about V, and
> quite frankly I have to agree on being bullish on this stock. When
> 97% of brokers/analysts/inves... joes is being bullish, chances are
> the stock will do well. I saw a lot of these same types of sentiments
> with the GOOG IPO, and obviously, all the Bears at that time had
> to eat their words. I just think its a good sign when V is getting
> so much support from the general public.
>
> I believe it is a great company, great brand with a "near" bullet-proof
> business model. The Wall Street types love that kind of stuff.
> I can see where the Bears are coming from on V, but in all likelihood,
> the stock won't crash and burn to under $50. Investors just won't
> let that happen. With that said, $100-$200 is being VERY optimistic
> as well. Only time will tell... V reports 2Q08 earning on 4/28/08,
> that will definitely show which way the stock will trade. Until
> then, THIS IS ALL SPECULATION!!! (But the banter is fun to read)
>
>
> Just my $0.02, NOW GO SWIPE YOUR VISAS!!!
And while you were waiting, the V has chugged long to $68 !
Buffert
Frankmeister, you really should quit it with the personal attacks; how old are you, twelve? And MVB, do you really need fifteen exclamation marks? Hasn't anybody ever told you how obnoxious it is when people write in all caps? You probably think that's the only way people will read your comments.
Besides, I doubt that the author is trying to drive shares back down to $44, as I'm sure he bought plenty at the IPO price, and has since sold them. Read any textbook on financial theory and you'll learn that one single article like this never drives stock prices upwards or downwards. And if you asked him, I'll bet the author would tell you he doesn't think that he has that effect, either.
The author made a valid point, which is that many institutions which hold millions of shares aren't able to sell them yet, due to lockup periods. Once they are, supply will exceed demand. Personally, I agree with the author on this. Over the next few months, this may or may not be correct. But even if you disagree, try and share your opinion like an adult.
VISA!
This stock has nowhere to go but up!
And yes, I have bought all that I could afford atm from the soooo incredibly huge pool of outstanding shares. Will continue buying for the rest of this year. This is a stock you could ride to the promised land of early retirement.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) will report its fiscal second quarter 2008 financial results on Monday, April 28, 2008. The results will be included in a press release, with accompanying financial information, that will be released after market close and posted on the Visa Investor Relations website.
Visa's executive management team will then host a live audio webcast beginning at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2:00 p.m. PDT) to discuss the financial results and business highlights.
All interested parties are invited to listen to the live webcast at investor.visa.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Visa Investor Relations website for 30 days
THEN, watch as you see institutional money start poring in. Remember that ETFs and Mutual Funds are not in the game yet.
This stock is going to EXPLODE- trust me. The earnings are inthe bag already- as is the merger of Visa Europe later on this year.
I am amazed at the fact that more people do not see reality.
China just gave authorization for its citizens to buy US stocks. You are not hearing much about this YET.
I have some news for those of you that don't follow Asian buying patterns (consumer goods, clothing, investments, etc...).
THEY BUY NAME BRANDS-
Visa has some of the best name brand recognition in the entire world. This is a biggest no-brainer of 2008!
As for the amount of shares outstanding- why don't some of you actually read the prospectus and understand the difference between Class A/B/C. Many of these shares don't convert 1 to 1- many are restricted for 3 years, many will never sell, and MANY are the Visa Europe shares that will be redeemed when Visa Europe folds back into the parent. Visa will be wrapping up litigation and drafting a settlement in Europe soon- then Visa will be bigger and better than ever.
Stop worrying about what doesn't matter:
Lawsuit- When you are a goliath there are always Davids gunning for you- 3/4 bill- it will be over- forget about it.
Shares Out- READ THE PROSPECTUS - DO THE MATH- USE SOME BRAINPOWER- THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM.
Market Share- Visa will crush MC- and cancel out any progress MC has made. Think Budweiser- Miller Beer- at one time they were battling market share- MC is the Miller of 2010.
Growth- Not even an issue- I have been to 30 countries in the past 5 years- (mostly developing). Many of these countries are just now joining the credit/debit card revolution. It is a STATUS SYMBOL- and in many places will overtake the US in the cash to card usage ration.
Revenue- Will the doubters please wake up! Visa is a 25 billion market cap company with ONLY 5000 employees! Have any of you ever ran a business? Do you know what that means? They don't have to battle healthcare costs, 4 unions, transportation costs, their profit margin is HUGE- and labor costs are minimal?
Competion- Yeh, Discover bought Diners Club - That is HUGE (NOT) when was the last time YOU used a Diners Club- and I would be embarrassed to wip out the FKA Sears Card - get real!
Oh, then there is AMEX- which is a TERRIBLE company from a customer service and cost perspective.
Analysts- Even though Discover AND Amex are DOGS - they were both UPGRADED- and they are on the hook for credit balances which V is not......
In short- I am making a fortune on this stock right now- never doubted it- bought it day one- will only add to it AND day trade in addition to maintaining my core position.
WAKE UP- SELL THE DOGS- BIT THE BULLET- GRAB YOUR SACK- PULL OUT YOUR CHECKBOOK- AND GET STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VISA raised $19.7 billion through its issuance of class A common shares to the public. $11 billion was used to redeem 50+% of the shares held by the shareholder banks that controlled VISA prior to the IPO. Those banks retain a substantial interest in VISA through their ownership of Non-voting class B and C restricted shares. These shares may not be sold or transferred and will not be redeemed until the earlier of the settlement of certain of the company's litigation or 3 years from the date of the initial IPO.
The remainder of the IPO proceeds was used to establish a $3 billion litigation reserve and to provide capital to fund the company's operations and expansion.
The IPO was the result of a multi-year plan to make VISA a company independent from its' shareholder banks and avoid additional antitrust litigation.
VISA will continue to grow revenue at a double digit rates and with its easily scalable operating systems should grow net earnings in double digits as well. Stock price is based on demand and supply in relationship to the future discounted cash flows. VISA will be a cash cow.
To the fellow who said that institutional money is still not involved in the stock...Who do think bought the 800 million shares in the IPO? Certainly not retail.
Frankenstein is hilarious, keep 'em coming.
Disclosure: I bought V on the first day of trading between $55.75 and $58. I usually don't buy into IPOs until I missed out on GOOG, MA and VMW. I couldn't resist this one.
I strongly urge anyone on this board (either bullish or bearish on V)- to take a look at the prospectus to understand this company before slamming the stock. If you read carefully you will see that this company took its time in really gearing up for the long haul, remaining free from Euro litigation (while being able to rope V-Euro back in as soon as the coast is clear)- shoring up reserves for pending US litigation- and ensuring long-term success for all those involved.
Furthermore, any prospectus is littered with risk factors, but as most investors acquire shares of companies that are already publicly traided they never read the boilerplate disclaimers. Visa is no more likely to be hampered by its pending litigation than Microsoft was (and to a much larger extent). This is part of business- any business operating in the 21st Century.
Come April 28 those of you that did not take a position will regret that decision for the rest of your investing career.
Couple of points- Kuwait invested $800,000,000. DOLLARS NOT SHARES. Point 1.
Institutional money is not involved AFTER the IPO- Bank of China, Kuwait, and the China Sov. Wealth funds are PRE-IPO buyers.
Financial ETFS and Mutual Funds are not tracking V, nor are any of the stock indexes. The demand that you are seeing now is largely from individual investors which makes V's recent growth that much more impressive.
For those of you that are waiting for the 'lock-ups' to expire- don't hold your breath as you will turn purple...... a) Most of the lock-ups are long term (3 years), and b) By the time the shares are free trading there will be a buyer lined up in a block trade c) Most of the holders of restricted shares will continue to maintain a position regardless, and they are not going to claw their own arm off.
Please- people- READ THE PROSPECTUS- if you understand how this deal was structured- so much will be clear.
Click the link to read the Reg statement. Perhaps then you will have a clearer understanding of how 90% of the objections in this post were pre-addressed.
www.sec.gov/Archives/e...
Nine
HOW MANY ARE THE SHARES OUTSTANDING?
SEC Says 775 Millions
Yahoo Says 775 Millions
NYSE Says 406 Millions
AOL Says 406 Millions
Bloombegerg Says 446 Millions
With 406 Millions the Market Cap IS 27.6B -> Acceptable
With 775 Millions the Maket Cap IS 52.7B -> OVERBOUGHT!!!
DOES ANYONE KNOW IT FOR SURE??
Thanks!
Do you mean the weakening US dollar against the V's sales volume?
Could you give us some more hints? Thx
1. VISA beats earnings from 2nd quarter of 2007 by a high percentage and the pps shoots up. (Not likely, in my opinion, given the economy, reorgainzation, litigation, etc.)
2. VISA reposts earnings in line with expectations. Now we all know that VISA has restructure itself and all previous earnings reporsts are 'improvised' that is they are hypothetical - VISA had to exclude VISA EUROPE, etc. That is, the estimates for 2nd quarters' earnings, if any estimates at all, are highly speculative.
3. VISA misses its own estimates on earnings. Now that will be terrible! How is that likely?
Will VISA trade back to IPO prices?
www.sec.gov/Archives/e...
808 million shares outstanding.
The amount of stock promoting going on in here is comical. It's like an online boiler room.
Again, for those that continue to pound on 800mm shares out-
READ THE PROSPECTUS-
There are 3 different classes of stock- A/B/C-
Many will be redeemed by Visa, many are in the hands of Visa Europe- and will fold back into Visa Int. once Euro litigation is done, many have three year restrictions, many do not convert at 1 to 1, many will never be sold at all.
This is a great company- there is nothing boiler-roomish about correcting the inaccuract data being strewn about by people that can't even read a registration statement.
I realize you are long shares of V and want it to go up, but if you'll notice, I did link the S-1 in my post and it clearly shows the number of shares outstanding. If you check your quote machine, it should show the market at about 50-54 billion, depending on how fast it updates. If you can do math, it confirms the 808 million shares outstanding number.
When I said this place is boiler roomish, it because of people like you who act as if they are correcting inaccurate data, yet selectively lie to distort peoples opinions in your favor.
I may at some point buy some shares of V, but not until I've gathered a lot of real world information on the company, very little of which is being given here.
To quote an old investment line- you don't know the difference between livestock and common stock. Calling me a liar is just as pathetic as your lack of knowledge.
You obviously have not read (and if you have, don't understand) the S-1. You again don't understand the difference between Class A/B/C shares. Look at many of the earlier posts for an explanation.
I am not going to repeat myself again.
I feel sorry for guys like you that probably play with a virtual stock account anyway- why don't you check out google or yahoo finance- thats a great place for people like you to throw temper tantrums when they don't like what they hear- more your speed.
For those of you that are interested in learning the stock - read the prospectus- and earlier posts for an explanation. Visa will be a 100$ by the end of the year- earnings are in the bag- expect a 10$ between now and May 7-
Wes- you can check back then - after apologizing for calling me a liar- and making amends to the other posters by admitting to all that you simply didn't know what you are talking about :)
I read the SEC filling about the stock a,b,c. So your saying that visa has 775m share outstanding, and they have the option of buying them back, which would lead to 408m outstanding shares???? If this is not what you meant can you please clarify.
I too have been getting conflicting reports about the market cap. One place i find 30 billion and another website with 54 billion.
And does it really make a difference what the market cap is b/c Visa is about 3 times bigger than Mastercard and should have a much bigger market cap to begin with. If Mastercard mrk cap is 30 than visa should be about 3 times that to begin with....correct me if Im wrong
Float 406.0M
Shares Outstanding 805.8M
Institutions Holding Shares 6
Held By Institutions (MRQ) 0.00%
In terms of shares of Mastercard (per TD ameritrade)
Float 68.9M
Shares Outstanding 131.1M
Institutions Holding Shares 913
Held By Institutions (MRQ) 67.91%
Class A Common
Mkt Cap: $53,015,097,000
Shares Out: 805,823,000
Short Int: 9,340,483
B.V. $41.17
Let the education begin:
www.sec.gov/Archives/e...
Read: PAGES 7,8,9,10,11 - the OFFERING section. The offering section of a prospectus is a summary of the terms of the stock offering itself as well as a description of classes of shares, restricitons, as well as a discussion of restrictions, redemtion rights, lock-ups, dividend policy, voting rights, and other salient facts.
NOW- As far as all those shares SOME of you are worried about:
Straight from the S-1:
"The class B common stock is not transferable until the later of the third anniversary of the closing of this offering and the date on which all of the covered litigation has been finally resolved, which we refer to as the escrow termination date, although our board of directors may make exceptions to this transfer restriction after resolution of all covered litigation.
The class C common stock is not transferable until the third anniversary of the closing of this offering, although our board of directors may make exceptions to this transfer restriction."
What will happen in October!
"We intend to redeem in October 2008 all class C (series II) common stock and 31,853,182 shares of class C (series III) common stock, after which all remaining class C (series III) and class C (series IV) common stock will automatically convert into class C (series I) common stock on a one-to-one basis. Following these redemptions, the holders of our class A common stock will own an approximate 52.5% economic interest in our outstanding capital stock. These redemptions will also not generally affect voting power due to the limited voting rights of our class B and class C common stock. "-
The only reason Visa Europe was not part of the offering is that Visa International (V)- wants to settle with the EU- which they are in the process of doing- and THEN roll Visa Europe back into V- this will come right after the Olympics - and will produce another huge jolt to the stock value.
Conversion rights are NOT one for one- on B shares:
"after giving effect to the application of the proceeds of this offering the conversion rate applicable to each share of class B common stock will be 0.74 shares of class A common stock per share of class B common stock"
Classes of Stock- These are MEMBER BANKS and VISA DIVISIONS- they are NONT going to canabilize their own assets:
"Class A common stock is being offered to the public pursuant to this prospectus. Class B common stock is held by financial institution customers that are members of Visa U.S.A. Class C (series I) common stock is held by financial institution customers that are associated with Visa Canada and our AP, LAC and CEMEA regions. Class C (series II, III and IV) common stock is held by Visa Europe."
Why different Classes: TO PROTECT THE COMPANY AND ITS SHAREHOLDERS:
"We created a multi-class structure in order to: (i) allow stockholder decisions generally to be made by, and a majority of our board of directors to consist of independent directors elected by, our class A stockholders and not by our financial institution customers that hold our class B and class C common stock; and (ii) implement a key principle of the retrospective responsibility plan, which is that liability for certain litigation, which we refer to as the covered litigation, would remain with the members of Visa U.S.A., as holders of our class B common stock through adjustments to the conversion rate for such stock."
Class A common stock is being offered to the public pursuant to this prospectus. Class B common stock is held by financial institution customers that are members of Visa U.S.A. Class C (series I) common stock is held by financial institution customers that are associated with Visa Canada and our AP, LAC and CEMEA regions. Class C (series II, III and IV) common stock is held by Visa Europe."
Why am I doing this :
I am an investor- not a day trader- I DO WANT VISA TO GROW- and I am sick of listening to some (there are many intelligent posters)- dispell nonsense. Yes there are a lot of shares out- but many of those will be used to control the member banks and V Euro- and most will not be sold- and the ones that are will have buyers before they ever hit the open market (block trades)- The biggest and best banks in the world are also the biggest shareholders-
Class Over......
Now will you please give us a lecture about the trailing P/E and future P/E of VISA? Also why do you think that VISA will blow earnings in the 2nd quarter which happened to be one of the worst quarters for the economy since WWII? Retail sales are down, inventrories are up, unemployment is up, consumer confidence is down, and yet VISA will be up in earnings?!?!?!
I missed the IPO and I think that VISA is overpriced now ... Mediocre earnings will reverse the trend of VISA and it will test the lows of $55. Is this likely?
Also when do you think that shorting of VISA will be allowed? I know that one can short shares only 30 days of the IPO? Am I right?
Good luck to you and all longs! Yet, I believe VISA will trend down before earnigs for many retailers who bought at IPO prices will like to lock up profits.
Nine
Great commentary......I'm a firm believer in Visa. Yes the economy is in the tank and the consumer may be squeezed but the smaller payments being utilized by MA and V holders will continue to add to the bottomline. The European Visa issue will be resolved and this will add further to the bottomline.
Great company and business model. No financing, just fees per transaction adding up to BILLIONS of dollars at some point.
Frankly these days the higher the "nay-sayer" ratio the more interested I am in buying........!
Keep up the good work BuyV.....
"Yet another uninformed observation on the world's largest credit card processing company. I am so sick of the ridiculous slams on Visa coming from this site. The only reason I am even commenting is due to the misinformation being generated here.
FYI: ANYONE can 'publish' a comment. Unfortunately, this opens up the field to people like the author of this article who have little credibility in my eyes. I work on Wall Street (physically- not figuratively)- and have 22 years under my belt. I have owned to brokerage firms- and can tell you that Visa is one of the best stocks to become available to investors in the last five years. "
Well, you certainly have it right that "anyone" can make comments here. So far in those two paragraphs you have attacked the author of this article twice, making inflammatory statements like "ridiculous slams". You use inflammatory statements like "this site making ridiculous slams", when its clear that almost all the "ridiculous slams" are coming from commentors, much like yourself.
You also go on to tout your credibility because you work on Wall Street while at the same time knocking the authors. Others here work on Wall Street and know that someone who needs to blow their own horn and only pitches the positive aspects of anything, without also stating negatives, lack credibility.
You than ramble on about all the reasons why V is the greatest thing in the world and insist several times that everyone here is ill informed, while at the same time harping on the S-1 information that you have clearly tried to convince people is X, when its clearly Y. You cut and paste the text from the S-1 as if it supports you argument that somehow the number of shares outstanding is not what it shows at 808 million, but something less, despite being proven wrong by most quoting services.
You probably do work in a Wall Street Boiler room, but that doesn't mean the readers here believe your hype. We are looking for balanced discussions on this stock, of which we certainly are not hearing from you.
V is a compelling investment opportunity. The readers here want to hear both the reasons why they should buy and the reasons why we should take another look before we spend our hard earned dollars.
Listen go play with your virtual account- and let men discuss this stock.
sec.gov/Archives/edgar.../...
As far as second quarter numbers being released- V will have a live report on the 28th-
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) will report its fiscal second quarter 2008 financial results on Monday, April 28, 2008. The results will be included in a press release, with accompanying financial information, that will be released after market close and posted on the Visa Investor Relations website.
Visa's executive management team will then host a live audio webcast beginning at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2:00 p.m. PDT) to discuss the financial results and business highlights.
All interested parties are invited to listen to the live webcast at investor.visa.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the Visa Investor Relations website for 30 days
Not only do the people slamming the best stock since Google- not have a position - THEY CANT AFFORD ONE.
Oh- and to the guy that thinks I work in a boiler room- I own a metals trading company : empirestatemetals.com-
110 Wall Street 11th Floor NY NY 10005- my name is Jonathan-
Now for the haters- how much do you have at stake other than your negativity?
Analysts and portfolio managers can evaluate all they want, in the end - no one really knows for sure. All I know is that there is money to ba made in the short term, so I'll take it!
This is a trader's market. Enjoy it!
Visa
Briefing.com - April 11, 2008 9:33 AM ET
Related Quotes
Symbol Last Chg
V Trade 66.24 +0.13
Real time quote.
Stifel Nicolaus initiates Buy. Target $77. Stifel initiates V with a Buy and a $77 tgt based on their positive sector views and Visa's position as the global leader in electronic payments. With its dominant market share and strong product set, they expect Visa to continue to benefit from the ongoing worldwide shift from cash to plastic spending. More importantly, they believe Visa, like MasterCard, has significant pricing power supported by a wide array of payment products and services that are increasingly valuable to its customers (issuers, acquirers and ultimately merchants and consumers).
Visa Unchanged- Priceless
Roller
The great Jim Cramer of Mad Money conducts his own research and is now telling his following to sell V. No one knows for sure as to why we make the decisions we do. One thing for certain, homework is the key to success in this market. Me, I'm small time. I owned and sold GOOG and others before they exploded. I feel good about V and plans to buy more. Those are my 2 pennies.
By the way, institutional investors are the key people/organizations you want buy. They are the main reasons for stock price appreciation. Great posts and responses. Keep up the good work.
At one time I was actually impressed with some of the commentaries from Trading Alpha. All of the good will dissipated as I continued to read one slam of V after another, mostly by people that chose to post anonymously. Most of you know why this represents a problem, but for those of you that think I am overreacting I will share one last opinion with you; mine. New investors see ‘reports’ such as those generated by Trading Alpha on their online brokerage news feeds and assume that the reports are reputable. As such, decisions are influenced in part by such commentary. Trading Alpha, unlike Yahoo or Google Finance comes in as a ‘news feed’. I am in favor of free speech and free opinions. What I am not in favor of are slam pieces that could influence investors by people that fail to disclose what education, experience, or basis they have for making such opinions, good or bad. Furthermore, anyone conducting an analysis of a stock (however crude) should disclose whether they are long or short, have a position or not, or work for someone that has taken a position. That is my concern. Perhaps I am overreacting, but in light of the fact that severe damage has been done to several firms on Wall Street by dissemination of misinformation I am hyper-alert. Yes, Bear dug their own grave but they didn’t need someone to push them in it. In the post 9/11 environment it is not a good idea to tell people that an airport might be bombed either. Having provided my two cents- I am not going to waste any more time on this site as I feel it is lacking in credibility. I will, however, be glad to come back and remind the naysayers that they were wrong all along- when the stock hits $75. Good luck for those of you taking advice or lending credence to anything the ‘authors’ of these articles have to say.
Here are three REPUTABLE Analyst opinions- all within the last few days-
Cowen & Co initiates Outperform. Cowen initiates V with an Outperform saying they expect the co to grow net revenues and EPS by at least 7%-8% and 20%+ during the next 2-3 years while gradually expanding its ROIC. The firm says the co's growth prospects as well as its attractive business model stand out among its business services peers. During the next 3-5 years, they expect Visa to benefit from strong ongoing secular growth trends in the payments sector as expanding usage of electronic forms of payments (credit and debit cards) continues to displace cash and checks.
Visa Started At Outperform By Keefe, Bruyette & Woods >V Dow Jones Newswires
Visa Started At Buy By Stifel Nicolaus >V Dow Jones Newswires
Last – and this should be obvious to those of you reading this post- the authors and their ‘friends’ have nothing at stake here which supports my argument. Of course they have no concern about any potential harm they may do to the investing public by spreading distortion- as they have nothing to lose.
Rember, do your homework- read the prospectus- learn about the company- and I am confident that if you are a V investor, you will do well short and long term.
Visa is going to top $300/share in 30 months - I know it!!! As soon as we get this darn presidential election out of the way, the housing market along with Wall Street and EU will be RUNNING STRONG with the BULLS!!!
What do you say now?
Should we wait further to see if V will crash?
Since you penned this piece, V has raced from $62 to 72.
I hope you are not changing your mind now or covering your shorts! Lol
To those of you that doubted me and this stock, I have just one word that encapsulates what you are: LOSERS
By the way, there is no 'Sean Miller'- look at 'his' bio- and you will see that this is a pen name- as I have said all along anyone can post an analysis on this site. The problem with that is that you have people with no experience or investment knowledge doing so. My guess is that 'Sean' is actually Joanne (see 'her' earlier post). The reason I say that is that she didn't know that an underwriter can't loan shares to short an IPO for 30 days. She also didn't know that V included all global properties (other than Europe). By demonstrating that she knew very little about investments, and nothing about IPOs- she was probably too embarrassed to use her real name even if that was her name even it 'it' was a her.
Bottom line- I own several thousands of shares as a core position- also trade this stock daily. To date- I have generated a a fortune on this stock. It has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. I am smiling from ear to ear right now looking at the bid price of 75.00 at 6:49pm :)
Yes, V will have some corrections- as all stock does. BUT- this stock went from 58$ to 75$ in a little over a month- and its just starting its run. New institional ownership is less than 5%- and when the float gets soaked up- this stock will break out like a mofo. I expect $100. by the end of summer. The market has finally woken up to the fact the sky is not falling in- and after we broke the 12.900 dow resistance today- we are on the cusp of a run that should take us past 15.000 w/in the next few months.
A few final words:
Wez- You are a loser- I know you can't afford to buy the stock. You probably frequent peep shows too- as I'm sure you can't afford a real woman. Do yourself a favor- open up a virtual stock account and you can pretend you are like those of us that actual invest in V as opposed to spread their negativity.
Buy Foreclosures- You are a loser too- I understand why a bottom feeder (the carp of the financial world)- who makes a living profiting of other's misfortune- can't understand those of us with triple-digit IQs -
Adesai- You are a WINNER buddy- another true believer - congrats.
Jim West- nice talking with you too- good luck !
The best accolades for last:
Green Capitalist- I love you man! I learned about Intrepid Potash from you- I bought it at 48.25 and sold it all the next day- I'm going to give my old benz to my wife and buy a new one on the money I made on that deal alone- thanks bro.
To all of you that actually hold stock in V-good luck- see you at $100.
Jonathan
I just wanted to tip my hat to your great play on Visa!
Next stop on the V express- $100. by the time the Olympic games have their closing ceremony.....
Earnings were up
Transactions were up
Global growth is on fire
Bottom line- the ONLY reason that this stock is down in after-hours unrealistic expectations. The earnings report was already baked into the stock (look at the last 3 days). At 75$ the stock is up 72%!
This will be the last time in a long time to buy on a correction in the 70/71 range. Take a look at what the top analysts in the business have said- there are now over 10 buy recommendations.
This is very much like what happened to APPLE- people were expecting google like numbers- and when they just got great, but not spectacular numbers the stock dropped after-hours. A week later people woke up and the stock is over 170- same scenario.
At 75 the stock is up 72% in five weeks! How many multi-billion dollar brands can make that claim.
This stock is on fire and will continue to benefit when we see a true bull market. Expect 100 by the end of the year, if not sooner.
Good Luck!!
V at 77$ at noon today-
Can you say- ALL TIME HIGH
There is still room- hop on the 25$ ride to 100
Where are my detractors???
Come on- step up- I'm feelin' stong.
Oh, and don't start pumping your chests when you see a 2-4$ pullback this week ......thats not a loss- that is another
BUYING OPP- and probably the last one till 100..
Good luck winners
May you be reborn the soiled panties of a 300 pound gypsy - losers..