Visa had quarterly results out last week. Pretty much everyone with a portfolio with Vestact owns this global payments processor. We've been accumulating them since they listed on the NYSE in March 2008.
Remember that Visa is not a bank, they make money from moving funds around, and ensuring that merchants get paid when you buy something at a point of sale. They are particularly good at cross-border transactions that require a currency switch. Nearly all Visa transactions worldwide are processed at one of four data centres located in Ashburn, Virginia; Highlands Ranch, Colorado; London, England; and Singapore.
Visa (and their principal competitor Mastercard) are perfectly placed to benefit from the gradual shift away from bank notes, to the use of credit cards, debit cards and mobile phone payments.
The results themselves were fine. They made a ton of money, and they have fantastic profit margins. Visa is well positioned to deliver solid mid-teen earnings per share growth forever.
Goldman Sachs describes it as an "attractive low volatility compounder with long-term secular growth characteristics". Sounds good to me.