12 Best Long-Term Stocks to Buy According To Warren Buffett

9. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Warren Buffett’s First Major Purchase: 2011

Berkshire Hathaway’s Latest Investment Stake: $2.18 Billion

Number of Hedge Funds Holding Stakes as of Q2: 163

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a payment technology company that operates a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It is one of the oldest holdings in Buffett’s portfolio, given that the company is a leader in the payment sector. Given that millions and billions of Visa cards are being used worldwide and accepted at over 130 million merchant locations, the company boasts one of the most secured revenue bases.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) increasingly benefits from its large scale, as depicted by its solid fiscal Q3 2024 results.  Revenue increased 10% year over year to $8.8 billion, while GAAP net earnings reached $4.9 billion or $2.40 per share, showing a rise of 17% and 20%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The company is expected to deliver better-than-expected results heading into yearend as interest rates drop, therefore boosting consumer purchasing power.  It remains one of the best long-term stocks to buy, according to Warren Buffet, as it is staring at a global market opportunity of $20 trillion that should allow it to generate long-term value.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has expanded its tap-to-pay business to replace small cash transactions with credit card payments. It’s also targeting automated clearing house (ACH) payments to replace payments as part of its expansion plan.  Amid the tremendous opportunity for growth, the stock trades at a price or earnings multiple of 25 while rewarding investors with a 0.73% yield.

For their second quarter of 2024 shareholdings, 163 out of the 912 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had bought and owned Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s shares. Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management owned the biggest stake, which was worth $4.41 billion.

Here is what Aoris International Fund said about Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) operates the world’s largest payments network, facilitating the movement of money between merchants, financial institutions, consumers, businesses, and governments.

The company is best known for enabling consumers to make debit and credit card payments. In the year to September 2023, 4.3 billion Visa cardholders made 213 billion transactions on its network, to a total value of US$12.1 trillion.

Compared to cash and cheques, which are still widely used around the world, Visa’s network is a more convenient, secure, and ubiquitous way for consumers to pay. Visa has invested to reduce friction and fraud in the payments experience, to the benefit of both merchants and consumers…” (Click here to read the full text).