Browse by Tags
-
Posted
Aug 25 2009, 04:03 PM
by
CAPS Editor
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 This post comes from Matt Koppenheffer at partner site The Motley Fool.
If I asked you to cook up your ideal company, what would it look like?
I'm not asking for your favorite Fortune 500 company or an up-and-coming small-cap. I want you to think about the components you'd give to a company you could concoct right from scratch.
Would it be in a particular industry? Would it provide services, or would it make products? Would it have fat profit margins or make money instead by doing a huge volume?
We could spend all day going over the details of this magnifique dish, but I'd guess there's one ingredient we'd all liberally add to our creations: growth. All other additives are great, but how interesting can a business be if it's stagnating without avenues for expansion?
Find on Bing: More on growth investing
I've dug up a sample of real-world companies expected to post significant growth in the years ahead. To see which might be the best bets, I've consulted with MSN CAPS, the investment community organized to help individuals beat the market. CAPS incorporates the knowledge, information and skills of more than 135,000 investors.
Read More...
-
Posted
May 01 2009, 06:44 AM
by
MSN Editors
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
MSN Money investing columnist Jim Jubak frequently updates recent columns and offers insights on economic news. These updates appeared in his most recent column, "Only 1 way out of big economic hole," published May 1. To see more of Jim's picks and their performance, click here.
"5 rules for post-recovery investing": Those arguing that this deep and long recession has ushered in a new mood of frugality among consumers got more ammunition from Visa's (V) April 29 earnings report and Wal-Mart Stores' (WMT) news that it's seeing more business from customers with annual incomes above $50,000.
Read More...
-
Posted
Feb 05 2009, 10:36 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The economy is in the tank, companies are laying off people left and right, yet credit card giant Visa (V) manages to turn in a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter? Heck, that doesn’t even do the company or the results justice: It blew out the estimate.
Note to self: Ask wife what she’s been buying; check closet for new shoes.
The company actually put up 78 cents a share on an adjusted basis in the period, which was a hefty 12 cents better than what the Street had been looking for.
It appears shopaholics abroad may have helped gas the results.
Read More...
-
Posted
Dec 08 2008, 08:17 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Use of cell phones may expand the reach of money transfers, pumping new profits into an old industry.
Vodafone Group and Western Union plan a partnership to serve the growing market for sending money across international borders by guest workers. A pilot program in the United Kingdom will allow residents of Reading to send money to Kenya, where Vodafone holds a 40% stake in wireless company Safaricom, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The sector is now small, but use of cell phones to transfer money has caught the attention of Citigroup and Visa. Obopay, a Silicon Valley startup, allows users to create an online account and transfer money via text message, Web browser
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 24 2008, 09:39 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Shares of Visa have fallen nearly 50% since May, and today are down 3% to around $47 a share. The Motley Fool says the stock, trading at 18 times forward earnings, it's "about as attractive as it's been since going public." Ha. I think the stock is as unattractive as it's ever been.
As the Fool points out, 18 times earnings isn't exactly cheap (today the stock is closer to 17 times earnings). MasterCard's at 12.6 times forward earnings, and American Express is at 9.38 times forward earnings. But the Fool says that Visa's valuation is tied to assumptions of big growth -- 22% annually over the next five years, analysts predict. That's awfully optimistic, isn't it? Especially because, when times get bad, people put their credit cards away and refrain from major purchases. Sure, at 22% growth Visa will have solid returns. But
Read More...
-
Posted
Apr 03 2008, 05:53 PM
by
Jon Markman
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Bummed that you missed the skyrocketing advance of credit card vendor Visa when it debuted as a stock last month? The 50% move higher in the shares in the first few days paid for a whole lot of shopping sprees among shareholders, you can be sure -- and they could pay with cash, not plastic.
Well fret no more, because this crazy market is giving you another shot right now with the shares of the company behind a different credit card issuer: American Express. And the author of a brilliant new book about buying super-discounted stocks says this is one idea you should definitely not leave home without.
Vitaliy Katsenelson, a Denver portfolio manager whose cagey Active Value Investing was published last year, says Amex is one of the “cleanest” financial stocks you can buy right now, not to mention one of the cheapest. Its value is down, he says, because it is mistakenly lumped in both with banks and with companies that will suffer in a recession. He says that, to the contrary, Amex is in the virtually the same business as Visa and Mastercard, whose own shares are up a stunning 406% since they debuted in mid-2006: They just take fees from merchants and earn interest on cardholders’ balances.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 28 2008, 12:19 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It's no mistake that Visa was able to get its massive $19 billion IPO not only done, but done above the original pricing range in a tough environment. As pretty much any Joe on the street can tell you, Visa has a great business and it's in an industry that's booming as more and more people move from cash to card.
And let's not forget Mastercard in this equation either. After its IPO, Mastercard's stock had an amazing run of over 400% in less than two years. Since Visa looks like Mastercard and smells like Mastercard, surely its returns will mirror Mastercard's, right?
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 21 2008, 12:04 PM
by
allant
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post was written by MSN Money columnist Michael Brush:
When Visa went public this week it was no surprise that investors applauded the IPO as "priceless."
Though the bankers behind the deal priced Visa stock at $44 per share, it traded no lower than $55 Wednesday, its first day out. Then it closed above $64 on day two (Thursday).
Investors scrambled to buy Visa shares for three reasons. First, the company will continue to benefit from a broad-based worldwide shift to the use plastic to pay for stuff. Visa also has plenty of cost cutting ahead to boost profit margins.
Third, the deal was priced cheaply to move in a tough market -- which brings up another aspect of this IPO which was unsurprising. To get the stock at that heavily-discounted $44 per share ahead of the IPO, you had to have special connections inside the clubby investment banking network behind the IPO -- which was brought public by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase. Mere mortals, a.k.a. regular investors, need not apply.
Read More...
-
Posted
Mar 19 2008, 09:32 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The real reason Wall Street is downright giddy over the historic $18 billion Visa IPO this morning isn’t because the banks that own it are in for a big payday or that it represents a safe haven in a time of market turmoil. Instead, investors want to profit from the slow death of physical money. Cash is no longer king; Long live the charge card!
Already, a majority of retail transactions are done with a card instead of cash. This is up from less than 30% a decade ago. People love the convenience: Visa estimates that contactless card transactions are twice as fast as cash. For all their complaining about interchange fees, retailers love the fact people tend to spend 20% more when using plastic. Americans alone now possess some 1.5 billion credit cards.
The demise of paper notes and coins will only continue. The last refuge of cash has been small transactions like paying a bus fare. Now, even this is threatened. Interchange rates continue to fall. Card terminals are becoming less expensive and more ubiquitous. It’s only a matter of time before just about any purchase can be settled electronically.
Read More...
|
