User 169775

Visa and Mastercard: The Mortgage Brokers of the Credit Card Industry

I bought into V and MA precisely because of the recession in the U.S.-- V and MA both do business in plenty of countries where the economy isn't anywhere as bad as the U.S. Half of V's revenue comes from overseas, by the way.

Mastercard, Visa: Q1 Earnings May Be Fine, But Guidance Will Be Weak

Latest retail reports say that in-store sales are down, but internet sales are UP. That's good news for V and MA, because credit cards are THE preferred method of payment for internet purchases.

2008 Beijing Olympics: Ctrip.com to Get the Gold

If one wants to make money off of the Beijing Olympics, I suggest looking into Visa.

Visa of course has had its blockbuster IPO back on March 19, and while the stock might be a bit overvalued right now, it is sure to benefit from the Beijing Olympics because of its status as an Olympic Partner. The implications can be huge:

- Visa as an Olympic partner is the exclusive payment system of the games. They won't take Mastercard, American Express or any other credit card at the Olympics.

- Visa's publicity exposure will be immense-- Their TV commercials and brand placement will be on the TV sets of over a billion Chinese people during that time period, which may lead to an increase in Visa cards issued in China and rise in transactions (which is how Visa makes money).

- Travelers these days find it more convenient to use credit cards rather than traveler's cheques or buy local currency.

Something to consider.

Visa: The Most Successful New Stock in Years?

Either way you win.

Personally, I would be inclined to hold until after 4th Quarter to see what effects the Beijing Olympics will have on Visa.

The Prius Conundrum

I like my Prius, and I recouped its premium cost in 3 years, because:

- Gas gets more and more expensive over time. The more expensive gas gets, the more I save over a comparable car (in the Prius's case, its most directly compares to a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry in size.)

- I got a $3200 Federal Tax Credit for buying my Prius back in 2005.

- AND THIS MOST PEOPLE DON'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT-- The Prius has LOWER maintenance costs than a regular car. My Prius does not need a brake job until 100K miles because it uses regenerative braking, and since it does not have a multiple-gear shifting transmission, it does not need a tranny fluid change until 60K miles. It does not have a starter or alternator to go bad, and it doesn't have a timing belt either.

After driving the Prius, normal cars just feel so primitive.

Exxon Mobil Diversifies Into the Hybrid Car Market

The "report" that stated the Toyota hybrids have a larger carbon footprint than a Hummer was put out in 2005 by CNW Marketing, which does marketing work for GM (the maker of the Hummer).

Obvious motive there, that is why nobody with a brain cell takes that "report" seriously.

CNW Marketing wanted to accuse Toyota of pollution by using nickel in its batteries, which is complete BS considering that:

- Stainless steel manufacture uses thousands of tonnes of nickel per year.

- Ditto manufacture of jet engines with high-temperature nickel alloys.

- And the U.S. Mint uses more nickel per year to mint its coins than Toyota can ever use to manufacture Prius batteries.

Funny thing is, even GM is hopping onto the hybrid bandwagon these days, using the same nickel metal-hydride batteries as the Toyota hybrids in cars such as the Yukon Hybrid, the Malibu Hybrid, and the Saturn Vue Green Line.

Pot, Kettle, Black!

Green Awareness Among Online Auto Shoppers

Green online auto shoppers visiting Saturn the most?

I don't doubt if it's true or not... I just find it funny since Saturn does not exactly have the greenest cars on the market, considering GM's "hybrid" system in the Saturns are just a regular drivetrain with an extra large alternator and battery pack, and doesn't get much better mileage than its all-gasoline counterpart.

Visa: The Most Successful New Stock in Years?

The $44 IPO price are if you were allocated the shares by one of the underwriters. If you are not a client (or if your broker isn't a client) of one of the underwriters, it would be very difficult to get in on the IPO price.

As far as floats go, Mastercard has 160 million shares floated while Visa has 440 million Class A shares.

Options for Visa are trading right now, but the short interest as percentage of float is very small (I don't think it's even 1%), so no, the shorts are not keeping this stock down. Visa's share price isn't going to change very much until after the first couple quarterly reports come out so investors can better evaluate thie company's performance.

Visa: The Most Successful New Stock in Years?

to Jon Galt:
Actually, Visa does not charge the customer per transaction. The price a consumer pays for a purchase is the same, cash or credit.

And when is the last time you ever saw anyone buy anything with cash on the internet? Plastic will never totally replace cash, but Credit cards are necessary in this day and age.

Visa: The Most Successful New Stock in Years?

According to Dow Jones Newswire yesterday, the Bank of Brazil sold 56% of their Visa stock yesterday for $250 million USD to window-dress their end-of-quarter results. (Their remaining 43% is locked up for 3 more years.) That was what triggered the drop yesterday afternoon.

Visa IPO Aftermath: Europe’s in Trouble, China’s Buying in Bulk

to answer Belmont's question:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Virtually all of the cards issued in that network in China are Visas or Mastercards.

Visa, Mastercard Risk Ramped Up Competition

Just how big a risk is litigation, really?

Microsoft has been sued continuously for the past 15 years for anticompetitive practices everywhere in the world. They are still here and still profitable.

Mastercard faces many of the same litigation Visa is undergoing, and that has not prevented its equity from rising 400%.

It seems to me all you need is a team of lawyers who know how to obfuscate and drag things out, which every multinational corporation has legions of on retainer.

Credit Cards by Country

To the guy who posted the first comment:

Vast majority of people in China and India are subsistance farmers?

Sorry dude, you must be living in the 1980s. Ever wonder why almost everything you see on Walmart's shelves is labeled "Made in China"?

The chief economic engine driving China today is manufacturing, not subsistence farming, which is why the latest UN population report says 40% of China's population live in urban areas.

Visa stands to get a huge market share boost during the Beijing Olympics this year-- They are the exclusive payment system for the Olympics (sorry, they don't take Mastercard or American Express), and Visa's commercials and branding will be flooding Chinese TVs this summer.

Maybe that's why Visa chose to go public during these troubled times.