10 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Invest In

4) Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 165

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) operates as a payment technology company in the US and internationally. The company has been enjoying a wide economic moat as a result of its scale, brand recognition, technology, and network effects. Collectively, these factors allow the company to process transactions securely and efficiently globally. The rise in consumers using a payment network will make that network attractive to merchants. In turn, this will make the payment network more convenient for consumers, and the cycle continues. Therefore, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is well-placed to benefit from its large scale.

TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin maintained the bullish stance on the company’s stock, offering a “Buy” rating on 28^th January. The analyst noted the stability of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s core consumer payments business, with strength in holiday spending throughout travel, retail, and entertainment sectors. Furthermore, the analyst highlighted the company’s robust performance in Q1 2025, aided by a 16% increase in cross-border volume and higher-than-anticipated international transaction revenue and value-added services.

This growth stemmed from healthy consumer spending and positive macroeconomic conditions, resulting in an optimistic outlook for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s net revenue and EPS growth. Montaka Global Investments, an investment management company, released its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Montaka owns several duopolists in the financial services industry, including Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Mastercard in payments; and S&P Global in credit ratings and financial data services. These businesses have competitively protected and reliably growing core businesses. But they also have newer, high-probability adjacent opportunities. The market, however, is underappreciating this powerful combination, in our view.

For Visa and Mastercard, their core businesses in global payment processing are being complemented by significant growth in two areas:

1. New processing opportunities in peer-to-peer, business-to-business, business-to-consumer, and government-to-consumer payments; and
2. Value-added services, including risk, fraud-detection, issuance, acceptance, and open banking.”