Visa Q1 - Impressive results

Visa is Mr Reliable in the Vestact portfolio. What a wonderful business! The company reported impressive results again on Wednesday night. Net income rose by 6% to $5.4 billion, which resulted in a solid earnings per share beat of $2.76 versus estimates of $2.51.

Cross-border volumes, their highest margin segment, grew by 13%, while total payments volume came in at a whopping $3.34 trillion. The board has authorised a $30 billion multi-year share buyback program, showing that the company is in great financial shape.

Since listing in May 2008 Visa is up over 2 000%, comfortably crushing the overall index which is up 'only' 642% in the same period. It has also proved pretty resilient in the wake of the tariff tantrum, currently only 5% off its March all-time high of $366.54 per share.

Despite being reliable, Visa is far from boring. They have a lot of innovative products and stakes in smaller businesses that operate in the fintech space. They are also leveraging off their massive database and networks to create new products. For example, CEO Ryan McInerney believes that value-added services such as AI-supported anti-fraud technologies could account for half their revenues in the coming years.

Visa is in the top 3 of must-own Vestact stocks. Everyone should have solid exposure to this great business.