Visa (V) Surged Due to Steady Trends in Electronic Payments

Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC, an investment management company, released the “Mar Vista U.S. Quality Select Strategy” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. US stocks suffered their worst quarter in three years, with the steepest losses since 2022, due to tariff concerns and economic stagnation fears. In the first quarter, the strategy returned -3.05% net-of-fees compared to -4.49% and -4.27% returns for the Russell 1000® Index and the S&P 500® Index, respectively. Stock selection within healthcare, communication services, and consumer staples detracted from the fund’s performance during the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Mar Vista U.S. Quality Select Strategy highlighted stocks such as Visa Inc. (NYSE:V). Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a payment technology company. The one-month return of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was -4.43%, and its shares gained 21.52% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 23, 2025, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) stock closed at $334.37 per share with a market capitalization of $645.003 billion.

Mar Vista U.S. Quality Select Strategy stated the following regarding Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

"Visa Inc.'s (NYSE:V) stock appreciated 11% as secular trends in electronic payments are still steady despite macroeconomic uncertainty. Revenues should grow faster than overall consumer spending as electronic network penetration, cross-border travel, and new services help the company’s top line. Visa’s “toll taker” status should allow the business to thrive even in inflationary environments. We expect Visa to compound intrinsic value at low-mid teen rates in a variety of economic scenarios."

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is in 6th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 181 hedge fund portfolios held Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 165 in the previous quarter. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) had a strong start to fiscal year 2025 with $9.5 billion in net revenue, up 10% year-over-year, and a 14% increase in EPS. While we acknowledge the potential of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and shared the list of best stocks to buy and hold for 20 years. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was a top contributor to Wedgewood Partners' performance during Q1 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.