Fundamentals snapshot
V · NYQ · Financial Services · Credit Services
Current price
$323.57
52-week range
$293.89 - $375.51
Market cap
$615.35B
One-glance verdict
Fair-value range $387.74 – $549.79 (cautious → optimistic — tap the ? for the math)
Wall Street consensus: $398.64 (-13.8% lower than our fair-value estimate)
Buy below $369.90 for a 20% safety cushion
Balance sheet
Net debt $10.06B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
Quick scan of the biggest positives and negatives from the detailed checklist below.
What this company does
Visa operates the massive payment processing network (the system that approves and moves money) that allows your debit or credit card to work when you buy something. The company makes money by collecting a small fee on the billions of transactions that happen on its network, which is how it generates revenue (the total money a company brings in from sales). This matters because Visa's business grows as more people worldwide switch to digital payments, and it does so without taking on the risk of lending money to shoppers.
Visa's story began in 1958 when Bank of America launched the first all-purpose credit card, called BankAmericard, in Fresno, California. Initially, the program faced challenges but eventually grew by licensing its system to other banks. To manage this growing network, the member banks formed an association that was later renamed Visa in 1976, a name chosen because it sounds the same in many languages. A major turning point was the creation of VisaNet in 1973, an electronic network that made transactions much faster and more secure. In 2008, Visa Inc. became a public company through one of the largest IPOs (Initial Public Offering, the first time a company sells its shares to the public) in U.S. history.
You probably have a card with the Visa logo in your wallet, but Visa doesn't actually issue that card or lend you money. Instead, your bank does. Visa acts as a technology company that operates a massive global payments network, often called VisaNet. Think of it like a secure highway for money that connects consumers, businesses, and banks. When you use a Visa card to buy something, Visa's network carries the transaction information back and forth between the store's bank and your bank in seconds to approve the purchase. For providing this secure and reliable network, Visa earns a small fee on each transaction.
This is a major way Visa makes money, and it's tied to the total dollar amount of purchases made with Visa-branded cards. Essentially, for every dollar you spend using a Visa card, whether it's for a coffee or a new car, Visa charges the card-issuing bank a small percentage. This is a key part of their business because as the price of goods and services goes up with inflation (the rate at which prices increase over time), the fees Visa collects also go up. These fees are for the use of the Visa brand and payment products.
This part of the business makes money based on the number of transactions that cross its network, not the dollar amount of those transactions. Every time you tap, swipe, or click to pay with a Visa card and the transaction goes through Visa's system, the company charges a small fee for authorizing, clearing, and settling the payment. This segment represents a very large portion of Visa's income. It covers the work of securely moving the transaction information between the merchant's bank and the customer's bank.
Visa earns money when you use your card in a foreign country or buy something online from a merchant based in another country. These cross-border transactions are more complex and often involve converting currencies, so Visa charges higher fees for them. This is a significant source of revenue for the company, especially as global travel and e-commerce (shopping online) continue to grow. These fees compensate Visa for the added complexity and risk involved in international payments.
This is a smaller but growing category that includes various fees and services Visa provides to its clients, which are mainly financial institutions and merchants. This can include things like licensing fees for using the Visa brand, fees for additional services like fraud prevention and data analytics, and consulting services. For example, Visa might help a bank analyze spending patterns or provide tools to better detect fraudulent transactions. This part of the business is focused on providing extra value beyond just processing payments.
Visa is focused on expanding beyond traditional card payments and becoming a network for all kinds of money movement. A key priority is growing 'new flows' like business-to-business payments and enabling individuals to send money to each other instantly through services like Visa Direct. The company is also heavily investing in technology, including acquisitions of fintech (financial technology) companies, to offer more value-added services like advanced fraud detection and data analytics. Additionally, Visa is pushing for growth in emerging markets by partnering with local companies to encourage the shift from cash to digital payments.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $398.64 (-13.8% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Buy below $369.90 for a 20% safety cushion. That means buying at least 20% below our fair value, as a buffer in case our estimate turns out too rosy.
Our most-likely fair value is $462.38 a share — about 42.9% above today's price of $323.57, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Net debt $10.1B. Interest coverage 45.1x.
Visa Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 45.1 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here.
Total debt $23.98B Interest coverage 45.09x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $18.96B Interest coverage 27.03x -40% vs V Carries about 1.7x less debt cushion than V.
Total debt $11.67B Interest coverage 14.50x -68% vs V Carries about 3.1x less debt cushion than V.
What you should know
The numbers
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
Dividend
Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know