12 Best Quality Stocks to Invest in Now

5. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 181

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) operates as a payment technology company in the US and internationally. Analyst Iris Gao of DBS maintained a “Buy” rating on the company’s stock with a price objective of $330.00. The analyst’s rating is backed by factors reflecting the company’s robust market position and growth potential. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) enjoys a dominant position in the digital payment industry, which is expected to see significant expansion with cash transactions declining globally.

The analyst believes this pivot to electronic payments provides significant opportunity for Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s core business, mainly with the increasing shift towards e-commerce and cross-border transactions, which can fuel growth in international transaction volumes. Furthermore, the company’s Network of Networks strategy and Visa Direct platform are well-placed to capitalize on vast new flows throughout various payment types, expanding its market reach. The analyst further noted that Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) benefits from increased operating margins, mainly because of a healthy competitive moat and a significant network of merchants and cardholders, offering significant network effects.

Alluvium Asset Management, an asset management company, released its Q4 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Last quarter we wrote about the credit card companies and the Fund’s latest investment, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) (up 15.2%). With its strong share price performance, that position had grown to be greater than 5%. As we had discussed here, we consider there to be negligible differences in investment merits when compared to Mastercard (up 6.8%). Whilst Visa appears a little cheaper on traditional price metrics, our view is that Mastercard has marginally higher growth prospects. Irrespective, both are deserving positions in the portfolio, and given their similarities, and the 5/10/40 rule, in order for us to maintain maximum portfolio flexibility it made sense to sell a little Visa and buy a little Mastercard, and their combined position is 6.2%.”