We recently published a list of Growth Stock Portfolio: 12 Stock Picks By Warren Buffett. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) stands against other growth stock picks by Warren Buffett.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway portfolio has long been a beacon for value investors looking for high-quality businesses with long-term competitive advantages. Since taking over as CEO of Berkshire six decades ago, the appropriately named “Oracle of Omaha” has outperformed the broader market.
As we approach 2025, some of Berkshire’s assets stand out as promising opportunities, combining excellent fundamentals with acceptable values despite the market’s sustained emphasis on technology and growth stocks.
Berkshire’s CEO is a strong believer in portfolio concentration. Buffett’s investment strategy revolves around choosing companies with significant competitive advantages, effective management teams, and the potential to create regular free cash flow. His concept focuses on buying exceptional firms at acceptable costs rather than inferior enterprises at low rates. This strategy has proven successful across numerous market cycles, with Berkshire Hathaway providing compound yearly returns significantly higher than market averages over several decades.
The “Oracle of Omaha” concentrates on companies he understands, avoiding complex technologies or models with uncertain earnings potential. He looks for companies with pricing power, great brand awareness, and the ability to preserve or grow market share even during economic downturns. Buffett’s conservative yet effective approach has helped him become one of history’s most successful investors.
Following the filing of Berkshire’s 13F on February 14, we now know that 60% ($180 billion) of Buffett’s $299 billion portfolio is concentrated in just four magnificent stocks.
Japanese stock investors are attentively watching Buffett’s letter in the hopes of gaining information that may affect the country’s trading houses. Buffett has previously approved Japanese trading companies, resulting in increased stock value. Market participants will examine his comments for clues about the future of these companies, particularly as they are impacted by decreasing energy prices and pressure from the US government to reduce oil expenses.
As usual, Buffett’s shareholder letter is expected to provide significant insights not only into Berkshire Hathaway’s performance but also into market trends.
Methodology
For this article, we scanned Warren Buffett’s Q4 2024 portfolio. We then chose 12 stocks with the highest 5-year average revenue growth (YoY) and ranked accordingly.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)
5-year average revenue growth (YoY): 9.77%
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), the world’s largest payment processor, handled almost $15 trillion in total volume during fiscal 2023. It accepts transactions in over 160 currencies and operates in over 200 countries. Its systems are capable of processing over 65,000 transactions per second.
In the quarter that concluded on December 31, 2024, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) handled 63.8 billion transactions, representing an 11% growth from the previous year. Furthermore, compared to the same time last year, the number of payments rose by 9% on a constant-dollar basis.
The company has been a market leader for a long time and continues to have promising growth potential. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s place in the global electronic payment infrastructure is virtually unchallengeable, even in light of the payment industry’s continuous innovation.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has seen a relatively consistent track in recent quarters, as growth has leveled out and one-time effects have faded. When analyzed separately, its fiscal first-quarter 2025 statistics showed that the company’s performance remained consistent, with sales increasing by 10.15% year on year. The company continues to benefit from a stable environment and favorable long-term secular growth prospects.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) had more than $16 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter, indicating a strong financial position. Over the same quarter last year, operating cash flow climbed to $5.4 billion from $3.6 billion. Furthermore, the company paid out $5.1 billion in dividends and share repurchases to its stockholders. As of February 14, it has a dividend yield of 0.67% and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share. For the past 16 years, the company has rewarded investors with rising dividends.
Overall, V ranks 12th on our list of Growth Stock Portfolio: 12 Stock Picks By Warren Buffett. While we acknowledge the potential for V to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than V but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
