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Visa's First Annual Shareholder Meeting a Non-Event

I got hammered on Visa having bought quite a bit of it in early May. But my losses are only on paper as I haven't yet sold any. It will come back over time. I just wish I could buy more right now, but I really can't. A while back I read that Visa was planning a big buyback in October. Doing so real soon would show potential investors confidence in Visa. I believe that too many investors are spooked because of all the credit defaults etc... but Visa doesn't issue or take on the risks involved with credit. I can't say that often enough because I still read well intentioned bad advice on Visa and Master Card by "analysts" who lump Visa and MC in with Discover and American Express. Two weeks ago someone authored an article on a blog writing that Visa was gonna lose a fortune because of people defaulting on their credit cards. Fortunately, someone wrote back rather quickly that Visa doesn't assume credit risk and the author acknowledged his error. I still have to wonder how many other articles are out there categorizing V and MC with D and AE.

The time has come for Visa and Master Card to use some of their advertising dollars to promote their stocks to investors just as they promote their cards to consumers. And they should start by telling potential investors they don't take on credit risk, the banks do. I think their problem is misinformation and misunderstandings more so than the economy.