We recently published a list of 12 Best Dow Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) stands against other best Dow stocks to buy right now.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is among the most popular stock market indices globally. Known as the Dow, the index monitors the performance of 30 blue-chip companies listed on the US stock exchanges. In 2024, the Dow index returned over 16%, compared to a 25% return for the broader market.
Historically, the Dow has performed better compared to the broader market. According to S&P Global, in the past 30 years up until June 2021, the Dow index returned approximately 11.16% compared to the market’s return of 10.6%. This growth is mainly due to the Dow’s stable, industry-leading companies that offer reliable dividends and returns.
READ ALSO: 7 Most Undervalued Financial Stocks To Buy According to Analysts.
Since the beginning of 2025, Dow Jones has soared over 4% as mega-cap tech stocks surged following their positive earnings. Whereas, the S&P 500 index has jumped by 3.70% year-to-date, as of January 23.
Trump’s AI startup initiative is already pumping the tech stocks. The $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project led by Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank will accelerate the AI demand. Tech stocks are already dominating the market driven by the huge demand for AI. Nasdaq Composite returned nearly 30% in 2024, outperforming the Dow and the S&P 500.
The U.S. economy is expected to perform better this year compared to 2024 followed by lower interest rates and PCE inflation expected around 2.1%. Economists anticipate a suitable atmosphere for mergers and acquisitions.
Investing in Dow Jones stocks can be appealing in 2025 as they offer huge dividends and returns. The Dow stocks have strong balance sheets and have a proven track record of high yields.
Our Methodology
We shifted through the Dow Jones Index and selected the 12 best Dow stocks based on hedge fund sentiment around each stock using Insider Monkey’s data for Q3 2024. The best Dow stocks are ranked in ascending order of their hedge fund holdings.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A close-up of a modern payments terminal with a pile of credit cards on the side.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 165
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is one of the largest global payments technology companies. The company supports global commerce and money movement in more than 200 countries. Visa’s robust payment network and low overhead costs allow the company to generate high profits. According to data from The Nilson Report, Visa had $12.6 trillion in total payment volume and almost 4.5 billion cards in circulation in 2023. To understand this, Visa’s counterpart, Mastercard, processed about 40% less payment volume during that same period.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has been one of the most successful payment networks of the last decade. In the past 10 years, Visa’s profit margin has averaged 48%. Moreover, the company enjoys generating huge cash, bringing in over $18.7 billion FCF over the past 12 months.
The company’s rewarding aspect makes it a great investment option. In FY2024, Visa Inc. generated $35.9 billion in revenue and earnings of $9.73 per share, up by 10% and 17% year-over-year, respectively. Visa’s total payments and cash volume reached $16 trillion in 2024, and the network processed over 234 billion total transactions.
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) continues to evolve its growing business with AI integration across its VAS offerings, which assists merchants and financial institutions in avoiding fraudulent activities and protecting users’ data.
Overall, V ranks 4th on our list of best Dow stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of V to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that 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.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
