5 Best Beginner Stocks To Invest In Right Now

2. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 159

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is the world’s leading payment services company, facilitating transactions between businesses and individuals in more than 200 countries and regions around the globe in approximately 160 currencies. Goldman Sachs analyst Will Nance sees the firm as a global leader, with “attractive leverage to the long-term secular growth driver from payment electronification.” He gave the firm a ‘Buy’ rating on May 17 and placed it on his ‘Americas Conviction List’, along with a price target of $282 which implies a 43% upside.

For Q1 2022, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) posted an EPS of $1.79, which exceeded analysts’ forecasts by $0.14. Quarterly revenue recorded year-on-year growth of 25.48%, coming in at $7.19 billion which also beat Street estimates by $366.9 million.

Investors were eager on Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in the first quarter. According to the Q1 database of Insider Monkey, 159 hedge funds reported bullish bets on the company shares, as compared to 142 hedge funds in the previous quarter. Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management held 19.92 million shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) worth $4.41 billion, making it the firm’s largest Q1 shareholder. Billionaires Ken Fisher and Warren Buffett also held multi-billion dollar stakes in the firm.

Investment management firm Baron Funds talked about the prospects of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q1 2022 investor letter. Here is what it said:

“Shares of global payment network Visa, Inc. (NYSE:V) were up 2.5% on strong quarterly results with 24% revenue growth and 27% EPS growth. Payment volume grew 20% with notable strength in cross-border volumes as travel activity rebounded from depressed levels. Management raised full-year guidance to reflect high-teens revenue growth. Shares also likely benefited from a “flight to safety” during a volatile quarter for equities. We continue to own the stock due to Visa’s long runway for growth underpinned by the continued migration from cash transactions to card/digital and strong competitive advantages, operating in a duopoly with Mastercard.”