Visa Inc. (V): Among Charles Akre's and John Neff's Stock Picks With Huge Upside Potential

We recently published an article titled Charles Akre's and John Neff's 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) stands against the other stocks with huge upside potential according to Charles Akre and John Neff.

The current market environment of the U.S. has volatility as its new norm, and prudent investors are seeking refuge in the guidance of seasoned experts. Among these experts is Charles Akre, the founder of Akre Capital Management. Charles Akre has curated a list of stocks poised for notable appreciation using his disciplined investment approach. He stepped away from PM role in 2020, however, even today Akre Capital's 9 of the top 10 stock holdings were initiated before 2020. Only one of the top 10 stocks was picked by John Neff who is in charge of portfolio management at Akre Capital. Today, we will be looking at 10 of the stocks picked by Charles Akre and John Neff, but we will also take a look at their upside potential. Before we dive into our picks, it is necessary to understand the market context that makes these stocks more attractive.

READ ALSO: 10 Dividend Paying Stocks Insiders Are Buying and 20 Takeover Rumors Hedge Funds Are Buying.

The performance of the market indices in the recent week suggests renewed investor confidence in equities. As per a report by the Wall Street Journal, this performance reflects optimism despite the economic data releases and corporate earnings reports showing adverse growth. Such market movements stress the significance of adopting a strategy when selecting a stock. The most often used and favored strategy involves letting yourself be guided by experienced investors like Akre.

The forefront of this resurgence is that many growth stocks, including small caps, have outperformed their value counterparts in 2023. It does not undermine the value equities but projects the current preferences of the market for companies with significant growth prospects. Akre Capital’s selections are in a perfect position to capitalize on this growing trend.

Investors must understand that such outperformance is not just a short-term phenomenon, as historical data indicate that growth stocks have been consistent deliverers of massive returns over a longer period. From 2009 onward, growth stocks have dominated many investors’ portfolios, except for a short period in 2022 when interest rate hikes affected their performance. According to CNBC, this long-term trend adds value to the investment strategy of focusing on growth.

Additionally, the need to identify high-quality growth stocks is further emphasized with the market gains concentrated on a select group of mega-cap stocks. For instance, the Magnificent Seven has a collective market value of $11.5 trillion. Akre Capital’s investment philosophy underpins this principle of making portfolio decisions by considering high-quality growth stocks.

In this context, the ten picks we have brought you here from Akre Capital’s portfolio are not just random selections but a list that is put together after going through the company’s fundamentals and long-term growth potential with a keen eye for details. Akre Capital’s approach remarkably aligns with the current market environment, where discerning investors tend to overcome market challenges by strengthening their portfolios using growth-oriented companies.

Before we take a look at our top picks, it is imperative for investors to appreciate the strategic considerations that helped us in putting together our list. Our choices are not about merely capitalizing on current market trends. We ensured that our list results from a deep understanding of the factors driving sustainable growth.

Our Methodology

We compiled our list of Akre Capital's 10 stock picks with huge upside potential by following a few criteria. All the stocks in our list are part of Akre Capital’s portfolio. Following this crucial criterion, we looked for stocks with a high percentage holding in the portfolio. This is to ensure that the article covers the top picks from renowned investors. Then, we looked at the upside potential of the stocks since they represent the future appreciation value of the investors’ capital. We have used this upside potential to rank our picks as well. All the data in the article was taken from financial databases and analyst reports, with all information updated as of April 26, 2025.

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)

% holding in portfolio: 8.94%

Upside Potential: 15.76%

A California-based company, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is renowned as a global digital payment technology leader. The company focuses on facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and governments across more than 200 countries. Its portfolio includes credit, debit, and prepaid card processing, with extensive risk management systems and scalable infrastructure. Though Mastercard and American Express put up tough competition, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) benefits from a strong brand network and data-rich analytics capabilities. It is also known for its strategic contactless and cross-border payment innovation investments.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) forms 8.94% of holdings in Akre Capital’s portfolio, representing a strong faith in the long-term wealth-building potential of the company. Its current growth also suggests strong capabilities, with the company having generated a net revenue of $9.5 billion in Q1 2025, reaching a year-over-year increase of 10%. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) also saw positive international growth, with its cross-border volume, excluding intra-Europe, experiencing an increase of 16% in constant dollars. Having successfully renewed and expanded various key partnerships worldwide, the company aims to bring generative AI into the payment environment and achieve revenue growth of $39.6 billion in 2025.

Bolstered by a 15.76% upside, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) attracts investors focused on restructuring their portfolio with high-growth potential equities with the added value of Akre’s confidence.

Overall V ranks 5th on our list of Charles Akre's and John Neff's stock picks with huge upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of V as an investment, 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. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than V but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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