Garmin Ltd. (GRMN), Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW), Visa Inc (V): Today’s Three Best Stocks

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) jumped 3.9% today after reporting better-than-expected results in its second quarter, and boosting its full-year guidance. For the quarter, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) delivered a 10% increase in revenue, to $15.7 billion, and EPS of $0.88, which was up significantly from the $0.64 reported in the year-ago period. Comparatively speaking, Wall Street expected just $15.1 billion in revenue and $0.79 in EPS. A long-sustained housing rally and historically low interest rates have spurred consumers to spend heftily in the home improvement sector, which is helping beef up Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) bottom line. However, if the Fed pares back QE3 soon, weaker links like Lowe’s may find growing its bottom line very difficult without tight cost controls.

Finally, payment processor Visa Inc (NYSE:V) gained 3% after the Federal Reserve announced that it would appeal a recent ruling on debit-card transaction fees. Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which owns a huge percentage of the U.S.-based debit-card payment processing market, has a lot at stake. If a debit-fee cap is put in place, then it would be likely that some merchants may switch to Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), which currently has smaller debit-card market share in the U.S. While investors may be getting tied up over this ongoing swipe-fee issue, I’d instead point to both Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA)’s growing overseas opportunity. That’s where the big money lies, and why Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) have decades of double-digit growth potential still to come.

The article Today’s 3 Best Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Sean Williams.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends, MasterCard and Visa. It also recommends Goldman Sachs and Lowe’s.

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