V - Visa Inc.
NYSE - Nasdaq Real-time price. Currency in USD
Bid 208.71 x 800
Ask 208.78 x 1000
Day's range 207.29 - 210.13
52-week range 133.30 - 210.13
Avg. volume 7,623,277
Market cap 463.084B
Beta (5Y monthly) 0.93
PE ratio (TTM) 39.19
EPS (TTM) 5.32
Earnings date 29 Jan 2020
Forward dividend & yield 1.20 (0.58%)
Ex-dividend date 12 Nov 2019
1y target est 214.82
Vodafone Abandons Facebook-Led Libra Cryptocurrency Project
(Bloomberg) -- Telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc left the Libra Association, becoming the latest company to exit the Facebook-led group trying to create a new global cryptocurrency.The Libra Association, which was finalized last October, once expected to have as many as 28 total members when the project was announced in June. It is now down to 20 following earlier departures from Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and others that had committed to the project but then left before the group signed an official charter."Vodafone is no longer a member of the Libra Association," Dante Disparte, head of policy and communication for the association, said in a statement. "Although the makeup of the Association members may change over time, the design of Libra's governance and technology ensures the Libra payment system will remain resilient. The Association is continuing the work to achieve a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of the Libra payment system."The idea for Libra -- a global, digital currency intended to make cross-border money transfers as easy as sending a text message -- has faced opposition at every turn. Facebook, the world's largest social network, first proposed the idea last June, along with a number of high-profile partners. Many of them are no longer involved, and Facebook has pledged to appease all U.S. regulators before launching the currency. It's unclear how long that might take.Coindesk earlier reported news of Vodafone's departure from the group.In a statement, U.K.-based Vodafone said it plans to focus on its own digital payments efforts instead. Vodafone partly owns Safaricom Plc, which operates the M-Pesa mobile-payments app in Kenya, where more people keep their money on their phones rather than in banks. The text message-based app is used by about 35 million people globally to spend, borrow and send money to friends and family."We will continue to monitor the development of the Libra Association and do not rule out the possibility of future co-operation," Vodafone spokesman Steve Shepperson-Smith said.\--With assistance from Jenny Surane and Scott Moritz.To contact the reporter on this story: Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at kwagner71@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Robin AjelloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Jack Ma's Booming Loan Business Threatens Visa, AmEx in China
(Bloomberg) -- As Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and American Express Co. prepare to enter China for the first time, one of their biggest competitive threats will come from a company that doesn't issue credit cards.Jack Ma's Ant Financial, already the biggest player in China's $27 trillion payments market, is leveraging its ubiquitous Alipay mobile app to mount a rapid expansion into consumer lending.Instead of issuing cards, Ant allows customers to borrow with a few taps on their smartphones. The loans are wildly popular among China's army of mobile-savvy shoppers, who often lack formal credit histories but generate enough financial data via Alipay for Ant to make informed decisions on whether they'll default. The company's outstanding consumer loans may swell to nearly 2 trillion yuan ($290 billion) by 2021, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts, more than triple the level two years ago."The consumer loans business has been growing at breakneck speed, but there are so many untapped users," Huang Hao, president of Ant's digital finance operations, said in a phone interview outlining the company's strategy.Ant's push into China's 10 trillion yuan market for short-term consumer loans will make it an even more formidable challenger to U.S. card companies, which are counting on the world's second-largest economy as a source of long-term growth.Many Chinese consumers and businesses are ditching credit cards as Ant and its main competitor Tencent Holdings Ltd. make app-based spending, borrowing and investing increasingly user-friendly. In a Nielsen survey of more than 3,000 Chinese people born after 1990, nearly 61% said they use online consumer credit while only 45.5% had a credit card."For credit card companies coming to China, the biggest challenge is how to attract people," said Zennon Kapron, managing director of Singapore-based consulting firm Kapronasia. "A lot of Chinese millennials are digital first, used to using Alipay as their first platform for payments, loans and wealth management."The card giants appear to be moving forward with their China plans despite the headwinds. AmEx's application to start a bank card clearing business has been accepted by the country's central bank, while Mastercard has called China a "vital" market and Visa has said it's working closely with regulators for a license.As part of its phase-one trade agreement with the U.S., China said it won't take longer than 90 days to consider applications from providers of electronic-payments services. Regulators are opening the industry to foreign competition amid an unprecedented push to give international firms access to the country's financial sector.Read more: Visa, Mastercard, AmEx Win Easier Access to China MarketIn response to questions from Bloomberg on the threat posed by Ant, Visa said it sees significant potential to support the growth and evolution of digital payments in China and is approaching the market with a long-term focus. Mastercard said it would continue to work with regulators to advance its application and is committed for the long haul. AmEx declined to comment.Ant, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that's widely expected to pursue an initial public offering in coming years, started its consumer-credit business in 2015. Its loans tend to be small: half the users of Ant's Huabei (translation: "just spend") service borrow less than $290 and usually pay it back within months.The Hangzhou-based company, which declined to disclose the value of its outstanding loans, keeps delinquencies in check by tapping into a trove of data amassed by Alipay and Alibaba.Many customers have been using the payments and e-commerce platforms for years -- handing over details from ID cards to addresses and spending habits. Once Ant extends a loan, it can track how the money is spent via Alipay. The result is a bad-debt ratio stands at about 1%, below the 1.24% national average for credit cards.Read more: China's Gen Z, With Little Income, Gets Hooked on Easy CreditAnt keeps some of the loans on its own balance sheet, charging interest rates that range from about 5% to 18%, according to Huang. But most are passed on for a fee to banks and other financial institutions."We're set to continue to work with more banks and finance companies," Huang said. "We are, at the end of the day, a platform."The risk for Visa, Mastercard and AmEx is that a swathe of Chinese consumers and businesses will view credit cards as obsolete. About 60% of borrowers on Ant's Huabei platform don't have one, and many smaller merchants don't accept cards because they find it's cheaper and easier to use Alipay or Tencent's WePay. The former, with more than 900 million users, is Alibaba's preferred payments provider."The competitive landscape is full of local players," said Hang Qian, a partner at Oliver Wyman, a consultancy. "The key challenges are how to promote small merchants to accept credit cards and how to get e-wallet users to switch."\--With assistance from Alfred Liu.To contact the reporter on this story: Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at ychen447@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net, Jodi SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Reuters - UK Focus
African fintech Flutterwave gets $35 mln, partners with WorldPay
Africa-focused fintech firm Flutterwave on Tuesday announced a $35 million fundraising round and partnerships with WorldPay and Visa as it targets expansion in northern and Francophone Africa. The startup, founded in 2016 by Nigerians and headquartered in San Francisco, specialises in individual and consumer transfers -- one of several fintech firms aiming to facilitate and capitalise on Africa's booming payments market. As part of the deal, Flutterwave will become the African payment provider for Worldpay's clients worldwide, making the company the latest African fintech firm to attract global cash and big-name partnerships.
US STOCKS-Wall Street hits new highs in strongest week since August
Analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to drop 0.8% in the fourth quarter, but forecast a 5.8% rise in the first quarter of 2020, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Billionaire David Tepper, who founded hedge fund Appaloosa Management, told CNBC that he remains bullish on U.S. equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.17% to end at 29,348.1 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.39% to 3,329.62.
US STOCKS-Wall Street strikes new high as housing data fuels optimism
Analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to drop 0.8% in the fourth quarter, but forecast a 5.8% rise in the first quarter of 2020, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Billionaire David Tepper, who founded hedge fund Appaloosa Management, told CNBC that he remains bullish on U.S. equities. At 2:42 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.08% at 29,321 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.22% to 3,323.95.
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Stock Market News for Jan 16, 2020
Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday following the signing of phase-one trade deal between the United States and China.
Visa's Plaid Takeover Signals Wave of Fintech Dealmaking
(Bloomberg) -- After last year's deluge of financial technology megadeals, investors wondered if the boom could continue into 2020. This week, Visa Inc.'s $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid Inc. offered an answer: Yes. "Visa buying Plaid brings fintech from out in the wild to something more mainstream," said Bain Capital Ventures' Matt Harris. "It's a 'growing up' moment for all of us," he said, adding that the startup will now be part of the "critical infrastructure underlying the financial services industry."Plaid's rapid ascent—Square Inc. looked at buying it in 2018 for just a fifth of the eventual selling price—comes as large companies look to expand their offerings, and contend with fast-growing digital competition. In November, PayPal Holdings Inc. snapped up online coupon company Honey Science Corp. for $4 billion. Charles Schwab Corp. acquired TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for $26 billion. And Fiserv Inc., Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Global Payments Inc. did a series of major deals in 2019 that remade the corporate landscape of payment processing.Today there are nearly 60 financial technology startups valued at more than $1 billion, according to data from CB Insights, a research firm. Many are now acquisition targets, analysts say. Those include smaller players like SoftBank Group Corp.-backed unicorn Kabbage Inc., as well as giants like Stripe Inc., most recently valued at $35 billion, a price tag that makes it one of the world's largest startups. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Harshita Rawat, said in a note that Fiserv and PayPal could be potential bidders for Stripe.Ryan Caldwell, chief executive officer of financial data company MX Technologies Inc., suggested the Visa deal could trigger a domino effect in the industry. "The space tends to heat up when there's been one acquisition," Caldwell said, adding that larger companies were increasingly aware of fintech's potential. "A lot of these players definitely need to partner," he said.Satya Patel, a partner at venture capital firm Homebrew, which was a Plaid investor, said he didn't expect a bonanza for VCs. "As an active fintech investor, I'd like to think that its acquisition is a sign of things to come," but added that for every Plaid there will be many more startups that are bought for much less, or go out of business. While companies like Plaid and Stripe deal with the plumbing of fintech, would-be acquirers may also seek out consumer-facing financial startups. In the consumer world, "a re-bundling of financial products is underway," Patel said. Analysts have speculated that future potential acquisitions could involve some of the new payment plan and lending services, such as Affirm Inc., Afterpay and Klarna Bank AB."The alternative lending space feels ripe for consolidation," said Lisa Ellis, an analyst at MoffettNathanson. These firms would make sense for "possibly PayPal or Square, since they have alternative lending businesses already and these would extend those, even banks like a Discover,'' she said.The rising crop of digital-first alternative banks, or "neo-banks," saw big investment last year, and may also see an uptick in deals. Digital banking startups like Chime Inc., Revolut Ltd., N26 and Dave Inc. fall into this category. Because many of them have similar business models, experts believe the industry could be ripe for buyouts."The neo-bank space will probably consolidate at some point,'' Ellis said. "Many firms are burning cash just trying to buy and acquire customers." But that might not happen right away. Said Ellis: "The valuation bubble has to pop a bit for that group to be acquired."(Adds investor quote in sixth paragraph. )\--With assistance from Jennifer Surane.To contact the author of this story: Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne VanderMey at avandermey@bloomberg.net, Mark MilianFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Dow Hits 29,000 for the Second Time: 5 Stocks Driving the ETF
Extending its last year's rally, Dow Jones touched 29,000 for the second time in three days, suggesting strong complacency in the market.
Should You Be Tempted To Sell Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Because Of Its P/E Ratio?
The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll apply a basic P/E...
Visa Inc. to Announce Fiscal First Quarter 2020 Financial Results on January 30, 2020
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) will report its fiscal first quarter 2020 financial results on Thursday, January 30, 2020. The results, along with accompanying financial information, will be released after market close and posted on the Visa Investor Relations website.
Visa Reaches 100 Percent Renewable Electricity Goal
Visa has reached its goal to use 100 percent renewable electricity by 2020 through energy sources like solar and wind.
Play These ETFs on Visa-Plaid Deal
Visa (V) is acquiring fintech company Plaid, putting the spotlight on these ETFs.
Visa to pay $5.3 billion to buy fintech startup Plaid
Plaid's technology lets people link their bank accounts to mobile apps such as Venmo, Acorns and Chime, with the San Francisco-based firm saying its systems have been used by one in four people with a U.S. bank account. The $5.3 billion price given in Monday's statement is double what Plaid was reportedly valued at during its last fundraising, when it took a $250 million Series C round that was announced in December 2018. It was later revealed by Plaid that both Visa and rival Mastercard Inc were investors in that round.
Participation in Visa Token Service Hits Major Milestone as Digital Commerce Expands
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced that participants in Visa Token Service (VTS) are estimated to process a combined ecommerce volume of $1 trillion*, marking a significant opportunity in its efforts to make digital payments more secure. Tokenization is a technology that replaces sensitive payment information with a unique identifier, or "token", protecting the underlying sensitive payment information.
Visa to Acquire Plaid, Fortify Place in Fintech Industry
Visa's (V) acquisition of Plaid will provide leverage to its fintech efforts already underway.
Visa to Buy Plaid for $5.3 Billion in Bid to Reach Startups
(Bloomberg) -- Visa Inc. grew into one of the world's most valuable financial companies by serving as the pipes that help connect banks and merchants.Now, it's making a major bet on doing the same for data between banks and financial startups.Visa agreed to pay $5.3 billion for Plaid, a fintech firm that connects popular apps like Venmo to customers' data in the established banking system. The deal caps a meteoric rise for Plaid and aims to keep fueling Visa's own ascent, which has seen its stock triple in the past five years. The sale price is double Plaid's $2.65 billion valuation in a 2018 funding round.Plaid's developer tools help power a range of popular financial apps -- such as Venmo, Coinbase Inc. and Acorns Grow Inc. -- by channeling the banking data they need for their apps and websites. Founded in 2012, the firm now has more than 200 million accounts linked on its platform, according to an investor presentation. That access underscores the demand from consumers to send their data to services that can move funds between accounts or into cryptocurrencies, give advice on personal finances or reimburse a friend after brunch.About a quarter of people with a U.S. bank account have used Plaid to connect to the roughly 11,000 financial institutions it works with, the companies said. At times, that's put Plaid at the center of tensions between fintech disruptors and banks, which have expressed concerns about security and sometimes locked the outside parties out.Data Access"We don't see changing Plaid's model, we see helping them accelerate their growth," Visa Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said on a conference call about the way Plaid earns its fees.But the way data is shared probably will change, Visa President Ryan McInerney said in an interview. Visa will work with banking partners including JPMorgan Chase & Co. to ensure fintechs are collecting consumers' data "appropriately," he said. "We have deep relationships with most financial institutions and we intend to evolve" Plaid's data practices, he said. As a benefit, fintechs may get more reliable connectivity.Plaid has attracted investments from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and venture capitalist Mary Meeker. Visa and Mastercard Inc. also are investors in the company, Plaid said last year in a blog post. Visa said it expects the takeover to close in the next three to six months with the acquisition adding 80 to 100 basis points to revenue growth in fiscal 2021.Longer-term, the deal will let Visa play a greater role in the financial industry's tech-driven evolution, Kelly told analysts on a call. "We see this giving us options and growth potentials at least for the next decade," he said.In 2018, Plaid had talks with Jack Dorsey's Square Inc. about an acquisition that would have valued Plaid at about $1 billion. In early 2019, the firm announced that it was buying one of its competitors, Quovo, in a deal valued at about $200 million.Both Visa and Mastercard have been seeking to move beyond card payments in recent years to extend their rapid revenue growth. Mastercard bought a payments platform owned by Nets for $3.2 billion last year, using its biggest-ever acquisition to move further into so-called account-to-account payments.Plaid has struck data-sharing agreements with major banks including JPMorgan and Wells Fargo & Co. over the past few years, seeking to head off battles over whether consumers should give up their bank username and password to share data with financial applications.Visa's move follows a year of frenzied consolidation in the fintech industry, as old-guard companies increasingly seek to compete with fast-growing startups. In November, PayPal Holdings Inc. snapped up online coupon company Honey Science Corp. for $4 billion. Also last year, Charles Schwab acquired of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for $26 billion, and Fiserv Inc., Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Global Payments Inc. did a series of major deals in payment processing.Plaid's takeover by Visa -- seen by some fintech disruptors as part of the more traditional banking industry -- will be watched closely by Silicon Valley for any signs that more consolidation is coming. Monday's announcement included comments from JPMorgan and PayPal welcoming the merger.(Updates with comments from Visa's president on data policies in the seventh paragraph)\--With assistance from Anne VanderMey.To contact the reporters on this story: Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.net;Jenny Surane in New York at jsurane4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, ;Molly Schuetz at mschuetz9@bloomberg.net, David Scheer, Dan ReichlFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Visa (V) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Visa (V) closed at $195.33 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.81% move from the prior day.
Visa To Acquire Plaid
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Plaid, a network that makes it easy for people to securely connect their financial accounts to the apps they use to manage their financial lives. Visa will pay total purchase consideration of $5.3 billion to acquire Plaid.
Visa to Buy Plaid for $5.3 Billion.
Investing.com - Visa (NYSE:V) said Monday it would buy payments company Plaid for $5.3 billion.
These 4 Finance Stocks Helped Dow Win Big in 2019
Dow finance stocks - JPM, GS, V, AXP - are expected to continue witnessing bullish investor sentiments as several favorable factors bode well for earnings growth this year.
Tencent Teams With State-Backed UnionPay on Mobile Payments
(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. and China UnionPay Co. will soon unify the mobile codes that consumers scan to pay for purchases, granting the Chinese central bank-backed network a bigger foothold in a $27 trillion payments arena.Tencent and UnionPay have agreed to integrate their QR code systems, allowing their respective customers to transfer or spend money using the same smartphone symbols, state media including Caixin reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources. A Tencent representative said the company is collaborating with UnionPay in a number of fields on a trial basis. A UnionPay representative declined to comment.The tie-up may help UnionPay, a network set up by top lenders from Bank of China to Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, carve out a bigger slice of a market long dominated by Tencent and Alipay, the digital wallet owned and operated by Jack Ma's Ant Financial. Under the agreement, customers using UnionPay's Quickpass or WeChat Pay -- the de facto payment service on Tencent's ubiquitous messaging platform of the same name -- will scan the same QR code from merchants, Caixin reported.Alipay, which is part-owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., isn't in similar integration talks, Caixin added. Once China's dominant online payments provider thanks to its prominence on Alibaba's online malls, Alipay has in recent years come under attack from Tencent's rival offering, which is available to a billion-plus WeChat users.China's central bank has pushed for system integration in mobile payments, both domestically and overseas. The EMVCo consortium, which includes UnionPay, Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. as its members, created a QR Payment Mark to promote global payments unification in 2018.Read more: Alipay, Tencent Beware: China's Digital Yuan Is Closing In(Updates with Tencent's and UnionPay's comments in the second paragraph)\--With assistance from Zheping Huang and Jun Luo.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Evelyn Yu in Shanghai at yyu263@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Candice Zachariahs at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Vlad SavovFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.