Visa Inc. Class A (V)
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symbol.quality_heading
Business model, numbers and balance sheet hold up to our review. Whether the current price supports an entry is a separate question — it hangs on the price, not on the company.
The company itself is demonstrably strong: a 60.0 percent operating margin in fiscal 2025, operating cash flow of $23,059 million exceeding reported profit, interest coverage of roughly 37 times, and a network of close to 5 billion payment credentials and 175 million merchant locations that no competitor rebuilds quickly. There is no going concern warning, no negative equity, no existential dependence on a single counterparty and no accounting or governance breach. The burdens identified — a rising incentive ratio, a drained escrow account, ongoing litigation and regulation of the core price — are serious but operational and regulatory in nature, and they do not threaten the substance of the business. The price question is separate: at roughly 32 times trailing earnings as of July 29, 2026 the stock is expensively paid for, with a lot of future already in the price. That is a valuation argument, not a quality argument, and it does not move the rating. The decision is yours.
symbol.quality_note
Visa reported net revenue of $40,000 million for fiscal 2025. Before that line, $15,751 million went to its own bank partners, and the share is climbing. The bill for the interchange cases is paid not by class A shares but by an escrow account and a second class of stock. We read both structures in the quarterly report.
Read the analysis
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 29, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at V since then.
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Trading Day
Key levels of the most recently completed trading day — not a live quote.
52-Week Range
Current price 366.10 $ — 96% of the range above the low.
Lowest and highest closing price over the last 52 weeks. The marker shows where the current price sits within that range: close to the high speaks for strength, close to the low for weakness.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 08/03/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Sells AIVisa verkauft KI-gestuetzte Produkte als eigene Erloesquelle — die Visa-Protect-Suite mit Visa Advanced Authorization, Visa Consumer Authentication Service, Visa Provisioning Intelligence und Visa Deep Authorization sowie die agentische Handelsplattform Visa Intelligent Commerce; dazu wurde im Dezember 2024 der KI-Betrugsschutz-Anbieter Featurespace zugekauft.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„For example, Visa Consumer Authentication Service provides an AI-powered, real-time, network-agnostic risk score that enables clients to reduce fraud and false declines for intelligent authentication decisions."
Zum Beispiel liefert der Visa Consumer Authentication Service einen KI-gestuetzten, netzunabhaengigen Risikowert in Echtzeit, mit dem Kunden Betrug und faelschliche Ablehnungen fuer intelligente Authentifizierungsentscheidungen reduzieren koennen.
„Visa Intelligent Commerce is an innovative offering in this space that integrates Visa's tokenization technology with authentication and predictive analytics, empowering partners to deploy secure, personalized commerce experiences."
Visa Intelligent Commerce ist ein innovatives Angebot in diesem Bereich, das Visas Tokenisierungstechnologie mit Authentifizierung und vorausschauender Analytik verbindet und Partner in die Lage versetzt, sichere, personalisierte Handelserlebnisse bereitzustellen.
„In December 2024, we expanded our Risk and Security Solutions offerings by acquiring Featurespace, a developer of real-time behavioral analytics and AI-powered payments protection technology that helps prevent and mitigate payments fraud and financial crime risks."
Im Dezember 2024 haben wir unser Angebot an Risiko- und Sicherheitsloesungen durch die Uebernahme von Featurespace erweitert, einem Entwickler von Echtzeit-Verhaltensanalytik und KI-gestuetzter Zahlungsschutztechnologie, die hilft, Zahlungsbetrug und Finanzkriminalitaetsrisiken zu verhindern und zu mindern.
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-07-29 · 8-K 2026-07-28 · 10-Q 2026-04-29 · 10-Q 2026-01-30 · 10-K 2025-11-06 · 10-K 2024-11-13
Rated on July 29, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
What the Earnings Calls Reveal
Red flags Delivers but evadesWe reviewed ten earnings call transcripts from Visa covering 2024-Q2 through 2026-Q3 in chronological order. The financial record is unusually strong: quarterly revenue and earnings guidance was met or clearly beaten almost every time, and full-year guidance has been raised repeatedly since 2025-Q1. What stands out is something else: quantified product commitments vanish from later calls without ever being settled, the forecast for client incentives has erred six times in the same revenue-flattering direction, and for several quarters management has answered questions about segment detail or about updating its own growth framework only in general terms. Judged on the numbers there is little to fault; anyone tracking the product promises has to keep their own ledger.
10 calls reviewed, 2024-Q2 through 2026-Q3 · As of August 2, 2026
Financial guidance consistently holds
On the numbers that matter most, management delivers. In 2024-Q4 revenue rose 12 percent against its own 'low double digits' call, and earnings per share rose 16 percent against 'high end of low double digits'. In 2025-Q1 revenue was up 10 percent against a 'high single digits' guide and earnings up 14 percent against 'low double digits', alongside a raise to the full-year outlook. In 2025-Q3, revenue up 14 percent and earnings up 23 percent beat guides of 'low double digits' and 'high teens'; in 2026-Q2 the company reported its strongest revenue growth since 2022 at plus 17 percent and raised full-year guidance, then raised it again in 2026-Q3. The one setback in the period concerns a driver, not the result: fiscal 2024 payments volume guidance was cut in 2024-Q2 from 'low double digits' to 'high single digits'. At 8 percent it still landed inside that reduced range per 2024-Q4, but below the company's own expectations. The CFO raised that point himself.
Quantified product targets vanish from later calls
In 2024-Q4 the CEO announced that the account-to-account product Visa A2A would launch in the UK in 2025, starting with bill payments. In 2025-Q1 he confirmed verbatim that the company was 'still on track to launch Visa A2A in early 2025'. By 2025-Q3 only APIs had been released, with a 'formal launch soon' in prospect. After that, Visa A2A does not appear at all in the 2025-Q4, 2026-Q1, 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3 calls, and no analyst has asked about it since 2025-Q1. The same pattern applies to real-time payment fraud protection: 2024-Q4 promised pilots on ten new real-time networks during 2025, 2025-Q1 softened this to 'up to 10', the fiscal year-end call in 2025-Q4 contains no reckoning at all, and in 2026-Q1 management cites two more countries plus half a dozen planned by year end. The target named in 2025-Q4 for Visa Accept (25 countries) and the Visa Pay pipeline cited there (more than 70 clients) likewise do not reappear in the three following calls. That it can be done differently is shown by the Pismo issuing platform: quantified in 2024-Q4 as more than five countries across four regions during 2025, confirmed on track in 2025-Q2, and explicitly reported as achieved in 2025-Q4.
Client incentives: the forecast always errs one way
Client incentives paid to banks and partners are deducted from revenue, so every shortfall against plan lifts reported revenue. In six of the ten calls reviewed, the CFO explicitly reports incentives as lower than planned: 2024-Q2, 2024-Q4, 2025-Q2, 2025-Q3, 2026-Q1 and 2026-Q2. In 2025-Q4 they were explicitly 'in line with our expectations', and in 2025-Q1 the CFO confirmed as much when asked. For 2024-Q3 and 2026-Q3 there is no comparison against expectations at all, although in 2024-Q3 he described incentives so far that year as likewise lower than assumed. They did not exceed expectations in a single quarter across the entire period. The explanation is almost always the same formula of 'deal timing' and 'client performance adjustments'. When an analyst asked in 2025-Q3 whether the incentive-to-revenue ratio had structurally inflected after a decade of rising, the CFO explicitly declined to answer, saying it was 'honestly not the way that we think about our business'.
Repeated evasion on breakouts and its own growth framework
The same questions go unanswered for years. Asked about the size of individual components of the cross-border business, the CFO said in 2024-Q2 'we don't have specifics to break-out'; asked about growth rates for the DPS and CyberSource platforms, 2024-Q4 brought the reply that metrics are not broken out at that level; asked about the revenue exposure to US debit, also in 2024-Q4: 'that's not something that we disclose'. More consequential is the company's own growth framework from its February 2025 investor day: roughly 9 to 11 percent revenue growth and 16 to 18 percent for value-added services plus commercial and money movement combined. In fact value-added services alone grew 27 percent in 2026-Q2 and 34 percent in 2026-Q3. Asked directly whether that framework should be recalibrated, the CFO prefaced his 2026-Q2 answer by noting the company does not guide to growth pillars; he then gave concrete reasons for the strong quarter in commercial and money movement, but left the multi-year framework question open. In 2026-Q3 he answered the same question only by pointing to strong execution of the investor day strategy. Equally recurrent: why international revenue grows slower than cross-border volume in nine of ten quarters was asked five times between 2025-Q2 and 2026-Q3 and answered every time from the same stock of reasons, namely currency volatility, exchange rates, mix and hedging, two to four of them depending on the quarter and with no indication of how much falls on which.
Tone shifts from driver report to platform narrative
Through 2025-Q2 the prepared remarks are organised largely around business drivers. From 2025-Q3 the vocabulary changes: the company describes itself as a 'hyperscaler' for the first time, and from 2026-Q2 the phrase is 'leading hyperscaler of payments globally'. The word does not appear once in the five preceding calls. The 'Visa as a Service stack', by contrast, dates from the February 2025 investor day, is mentioned on the calls from 2025-Q2 and is first spelled out in four layers in 2025-Q4. In parallel the stablecoin section grows from a single figure in 2025-Q2, namely 200 million dollars cumulative, to an annualised run rate of 7 billion dollars, validator roles on blockchains (2026-Q2) and a proprietary stablecoin platform (2026-Q3). In 2026-Q2 the CEO underpins the growth story with a third-party estimate of 80 to 150 basis points of additional economic growth from AI. In 2026-Q3 come the first self-defined productivity metrics, such as development teams shrinking from more than ten to two to four people and requirement definition going 'from 30 days to 5 days', in the very same call that announces job cuts and 563 million dollars of severance costs. Along the way, the growth pillar 'new flows' was renamed 'commercial and money movement solutions' between 2025-Q1 and 2025-Q2 without a word of explanation; the old term appears in no transcript from 2025-Q2 onward.
Management promises
-
2024-Q4 broken
Visa A2A will launch in the UK in 2025, starting with bill payments.
Explicitly reaffirmed as 'on track for early 2025' in 2025-Q1. On the July 2025 call the launch was still pending ('formal launch soon'), so the date the company itself named is demonstrably missed. Not mentioned again in the four following calls from 2025-Q4 to 2026-Q3 and never settled.
-
2024-Q4 open
Visa Protect for account-to-account payments will be piloted on ten new real-time payment networks during 2025.
Softened to 'up to 10' as early as 2025-Q1. The fiscal year-end call in 2025-Q4 cites only the Brazil pilot and no network count; in 2026-Q1 it is two more countries plus half a dozen planned by year end. Management never reported whether the ten networks were reached, so from outside it can be neither proven nor disproven.
-
2024-Q4 kept
The Pismo issuing platform will serve clients in more than five countries across four regions during 2025.
Confirmed on track in 2025-Q2 and explicitly reported as achieved in 2025-Q4. One of the few quantified product targets management settles on its own initiative.
-
2024-Q4 kept
For fiscal 2025, revenue growth in the high single to low double digits and earnings growth at the high end of low double digits.
Per 2025-Q4, revenue grew 11 percent and earnings per share 14 percent. Guidance had already been raised in 2025-Q1 and was never cut afterwards.
-
2025-Q1 kept
After the 213 million dollar restructuring charge, no further charge will follow in fiscal 2025.
No further restructuring charge was reported in the 2025-Q2 through 2025-Q4 calls. The next one came only in 2026-Q3 at 563 million dollars, outside the period covered by the statement.
-
2025-Q4 open
The micro-seller solution Visa Accept is targeted to launch in 25 countries soon.
The product is not mentioned once in the 2026-Q1, 2026-Q2 and 2026-Q3 calls. Without an interim update there is no way for outsiders to check whether or how far the rollout has progressed.
-
2025-Q4 open
For fiscal 2026, both revenue and earnings growth in the low double digits.
After three quarters the company is running ahead. In 2026-Q3 full-year guidance was raised to revenue growth at the low end of low teens and earnings growth at the low end of mid teens. The fiscal year does not end until September 2026.
Based on public earnings call transcripts. Reviewed: 10 transcripts 2024-Q2 through 2026-Q3.
Analysts & Price Target
The price target sits 12.9% above the current price.
- Consensus
- Sell
- Analyst Ratings
- 41
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/30/2026 | 13.21 | 13.12 – 13.26 | 45,782 | 15.2% | 38 |
| 09/30/2027 | 14.95 | 14.36 – 15.42 | 50,668 | 13.2% | 41 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Next Reporting Date
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
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Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 2.58 | 7.80 | 9,510 | 10.10 | 53.80 | 5,396 | 5,051 |
| 2025: Q1 | 2.32 | 1.40 | 9,594 | 9.30 | 47.70 | 4,695 | 4,368 |
| 2025: Q2 | 2.69 | 12.10 | 10,172 | 14.30 | 51.80 | 6,730 | 6,309 |
| 2025: Q3 | 2.62 | -1.20 | 10,724 | 11.50 | 47.50 | 6,238 | 5,849 |
| 2025: Q4 | 3.03 | 17.40 | 10,901 | 14.60 | 53.70 | 6,780 | 6,402 |
| 2026: Q1 | 3.11 | 34.30 | 11,230 | 17.10 | 53.60 | 3,008 | 2,625 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Annual Figures
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 15,082 | 7,883 | 5,991 | 2.48 | 5,574 | 32,912 | 64,035 |
| 2017 | 18,358 | 12,144 | 6,699 | 2.80 | 9,208 | 32,760 | 67,977 |
| 2018 | 20,609 | 12,954 | 10,301 | 4.42 | 12,713 | 34,006 | 69,225 |
| 2019 | 22,977 | 15,001 | 12,080 | 5.32 | 12,784 | 34,684 | 72,574 |
| 2020 | 21,846 | 14,081 | 10,866 | 4.89 | 10,440 | 36,210 | 80,919 |
| 2021 | 24,105 | 15,804 | 12,311 | 5.63 | 15,227 | 37,589 | 82,896 |
| 2022 | 29,310 | 18,813 | 14,957 | 7.00 | 18,849 | 35,581 | 85,501 |
| 2023 | 32,653 | 21,000 | 17,273 | 8.28 | 20,755 | 38,733 | 90,499 |
| 2024 | 35,926 | 23,595 | 19,743 | 9.73 | 19,950 | 39,137 | 94,511 |
| 2025 | 40,000 | 23,994 | 20,058 | 10.15 | 23,059 | 37,909 | 99,627 |
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
In fiscal 2025, $40,000M of net revenue produced $23,994M of operating income (60.0%) and $20,058M of net income (50.1%). Operating cash flow of $23,059M exceeded reported profit — the margin is backed by actual cash, not valuation effects (period ended September 30, 2025).
Visa carries no credit risk and is expressly not a financial institution (10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026). As of June 30, 2026 the balance sheet showed $35,178M of equity against $23,858M of debt, with interest coverage of roughly 37 times over the first nine months. No substance risk identified.
Client incentives rose from 26.0% of gross revenues in fiscal 2022 to 28.3% in fiscal 2025, and stood at 28.1% over the first nine months of fiscal 2026. Each percentage point equals roughly $558M of net revenue on a fiscal 2025 basis. Visa itself names no target level.
The U.S. escrow account fell from $2,990M (September 30, 2025) to $888M (June 30, 2026), with $2,977M going to merchants. Meanwhile more than 100 European merchant claims remain open, a new U.S. class action was filed April 21, 2026, and fresh European suits arrived in April, May and June 2026 (10-Q, Note 16).
As of June 30, 2026 all classes as converted totaled 1,880M class A equivalents against 1,702M reported class A shares — 178M, or 10.5%, of latent dilution, down from 14.1% on September 30, 2025. After the May 2026 exchange, future adjustments hit class B-3 four times as hard as class B-1.
Interchange caps exist in the United States (Regulation II, vacated by a court in August 2025), the European Union (30/20 basis points), Australia and, since July 2025, New Zealand. Several countries favor domestic systems by regulation. The price of the core business is therefore set by authorities, not by the market (10-K fiscal 2025, Item 1A).
Visa takes a cut of almost every card payment on earth without carrying credit risk, and in fiscal 2025 kept a little over half of every reported dollar as profit. Ahead of that revenue line, however, $15,751M went to its own bank partners, and the share keeps rising. The bill for the interchange cases has so far been carried by an escrow account and a second class of stock rather than by class A shares; that account held only $888M as of June 30, 2026. Not investment advice.
- Hook: stocktake of the 100 largest U.S. stocks by market capitalization dated July 28, 2026. Visa ranked 15th and had no analysis. Not a scanner hit.
- Data basis: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (filed July 29, 2026), Forms 10-K for fiscal 2025 and 2024, and the Form 8-K earnings release of July 28, 2026. Fundamental data as of July 29, 2026.
- Fiscal year caution: Visa's fiscal year ends September 30. "Fiscal 2025" denotes October 2024 through September 2025, not the calendar year 2025.
- Share class caution: only the class A share trades, under the symbol V. Class B-1, B-2, B-3 and C do not trade and never appear in the quoted price, but they do enter diluted earnings per share.
- The Form 25-NSE of June 15, 2026 relates solely to the maturing 1.500 percent senior notes due 2026 and is not a delisting signal for the stock.
About the Company
Visa Inc. ist ein Zahlungstechnologieunternehmen mit Geschäft in den USA und international.
| CEO Insider Trades (12 Mo.) | selling own stock |
|---|---|
| Employees | 34,100 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA |
| Address | 300 Toni Stone Crossing, 94158 San Francisco, United States |
| Phone | 650 432 3200 |
| Website | visa.com |
| IPO Date | 19. Mar 2008 |
| ISIN | US92826C8394 |
| Stock Split | 4:1 on 03/19/2015 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan M. McInerney | CEO & Director | 1975 |
| Christopher Suh | Chief Financial Officer | 1970 |
| Rajat Taneja | President of Technology | 1964 |
| Kelly Mahon Tullier J.D. | Vice Chair, Chief People & Corporate Affairs Officer and Corporate Secretary | 1966 |
| Paul D. Fabara | Chief Risk & Client Services Officer | 1966 |
| Peter Andreski | Senior VP, Global Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer | 1973 |
| Jennifer Como | Head of Investor Relations | – |
| Julie B. Rottenberg J.D. | General Counsel | 1968 |
| Frank Cooper III | Chief Marketing Officer | 1964 |
| Oliver Jenkyn | Group President of Global Markets | 1973 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Insider Transactions
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30. Jul 2026 | Mahon Tullier Kelly | VICE CHAIR, CHF PPL & CORP AFF | Sell | 19,991 | 364.81 | 7,292,941 |
| 30. Jul 2026 | Mahon Tullier Kelly | VICE CHAIR, CHF PPL & CORP AFF | Sell | 37,281 | 365.05 | 13,609,399 |
| 30. Jul 2026 | Mahon Tullier Kelly | VICE CHAIR, CHF PPL & CORP AFF | Other | 37,281 | 109.82 | 4,094,199 |
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
View all insider transactions →Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.