V - Visa Inc.- NYSE- Business Services (NYSE Stock)

[BadThad]

It's been unleashed just 1 min ago!

I'm in at 59.50! GO GO GO

[BadThad]

I'm GREEN!

SAN FRANCISCO -
Visa Inc. shares soared more than 30 percent in their stock market debut Wednesday as investors latched on to the largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

In early trading, the shares had climbed to $58 from their IPO price of $44.

The enthusiastic response signals Wall Street believes the world's largest processor of credit and debit cards is well positioned to profit as more as people rely on its electronic network to make payments instead of cash and checks.

In the weeks leading up to the IPO, Visa's management pledged 20 percent earnings growth for at least the next two years.

Visa also touted itself as a safe have during the credit crunch that has scarred many of the lenders that issue its cards.

Unlike those lenders, Visa doesn't carry any consumer debt on its books. The San Francisco-based company makes its money from processing fees, which have been steadily rising for years, including the past two U.S. recessions in 1991 and 2001.

Since the last recession, Visa also has been able to entice consumers to use its credit and debit cards more frequently to pay for staples like groceries, gas and even utility bills. Visa estimates about 42 percent of its transactions fall into this "nondiscretionary" category, up from 27 percent in 2000.

The formula helped produce the United States' most lucrative IPO. Visa sold 406 million shares at $44 apiece late Tuesday to raise nearly $18 billion. Driven by strong demand, the IPO price topped the range of $37 to $42 per share that Visa set three weeks ago, and complete the most lucrative initial public offering in U.S. history.

Investment bankers could still exercise an option to buy another 40.6 million Visa shares during the next 30 days. If that happens, Visa's IPO will end up raising $19.7 billion before expenses.

"This shows that all the recent financial turmoil obviously hasn't bothered a lot of people," said Nicholas Einhorn, an IPO analyst for Renaissance Capital of Greenwich, Conn.

Visa conceivably could benefit from tougher times if more cash-strapped consumers rely on their credit cards to make ends meet, said Aite Group analyst Gwenn Bezard. "And even if people can't pay back the debt, Visa still makes money. It's a very attractive company."

The IPO should help bolster the wobbly financial services industry as banks write off billions of dollars in loans that have soured amid the worst housing slump since the 1930s.

More than $10 billion of the IPO proceeds are being used to buy back some of the shares owned by the banks that have helped build Visa during the past 50 years.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Visa's biggest customer and shareholder, is in line for the biggest payoff from Tuesday's IPO - about $1.25 billion, based on figures provided in Securities and Exchange Commission documents.

That's five times more than New York-based JPMorgan has agreed to pay in a proposed takeover of investment bank Bear Stearns Co., a major casualty of the credit crisis.

Other big winners in Visa's IPO include: Bank of America Corp., expected to receive roughly $625 million; National City Corp., about $435 million; Citigroup Inc., about $300 million; and U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co., both getting more than $270 million.

All the banks will remain major Visa shareholders.

The IPO also is expected to generate more than $500 million in fees for Visa's team of investment bankers, led by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Besides paying banks, Visa is depositing $3 billion in an escrow account to insulate its shareholders from lawsuits alleging the company profited by stifling competition.

Those legal headaches are one of the chief reasons that Visa decided to go public and pose the biggest investment risk in the IPO, Bezard said.

The IPO gives investors a chance to profit from the rise of electronic payments as more people eschew cash. The trend is expected to accelerate in the years ahead as an entire generation weaned online grow up to enter the job market and begin buying more merchandise and services on the Web, where electronic payments are standard.

Visa already dwarfs its closest competitor, MasterCard Inc., whose stock has more than quintupled since that company went public less than two years ago.

But analysts say Visa priced its IPO more aggressively than MasterCard, making it less likely that its stock will appreciate as dramatically in the months ahead.

Visa processed 44 billion transactions totaling $3.2 trillion in 2006, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter. MasterCard handled 23.4 billion transactions totaling $1.9 trillion in the same year.

Hurt by legal expenses, Visa suffered an $861 million loss on revenue of $5.2 billion in its last fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Visa bounced back in its fiscal first quarter with a $424 million profit, a 70 percent increase from the previous year.

[blondietrader1]

what price did you buy in at?? i got in this morning too. i paid $58 and change. i dont expect too much right now considering the market, but i am hopeful that it will do good in the long run. i hate these things, it is so hard to know when to sell!!

mary

[BadThad]

Welcome to SMC fellow Visa owner! I got in first thing at 59.50, I'm in for the long haul!

[blondietrader1]

i'm excited! i dont care what people say, visa is here to stay and this WILL make money so i am happy!!!

m

[Aufan 1983]

Originally Posted by BadThad

Welcome to SMC fellow Visa owner! I got in first thing at 59.50, I'm in for the long haul!

Visa just announced a 10 - 1 reverse split....... rofl and are going to trade on pinksheets......

Just kidding.... but you already know that

[BadThad]

Originally Posted by Aufan 1983

Visa just announced a 10 - 1 reverse split....... rofl and are going to trade on pinksheets......

Just kidding.... but you already know that

LOL

[BadThad]

Shelter? LOL

Visa may provide shelter from sector's storm
1:45p ET March 20, 2008 (MarketWatch)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Visa Inc. shares rose sharply on their second day of trading as they benefited from renewed interest in the financial sector and analysts said they provide a relative safe harbor in a volatile corner of the market.

Visa was up 13% in midday trading as the credit-card-transaction company continued to enjoy a market boost after its initial public offering Wednesday. During that debut session, the shares surged more than 28% after bringing 406 million shares to market at $44 each in the largest IPO in U.S. history. See full story.

Visa said Thursday that underwriters had exercised options to buy more its stock; J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, UBS, Citibank, HSBC and Goldman Sachs were the primary underwriters for the IPO.

"Visa's blockbuster IPO is a positive bellwether for the markets," said Chip MacDonald, capital-markets partner at Jones Day, in a research note Thursday.

Investors are likely to look for any safe harbor for investing in what is becoming an increasingly volatile financial sector, driving shares of ostensibly safe bets like Visa way up on the news of a promising IPO.

"This is particularly tangible for financial services -- more than $10 billion of the offering's proceeds will go Visa's bank members, increasing their income, capital and liquidity ahead of their [first quarter] financial reports," MacDonald said.

Visa's reach is undeniable. Analysts said Visa fields 38% of all U.S. credit transactions and 48% of debit transactions occurring with Visa-branded cards in 2006, versus rival MasterCard, which cleared 26% of credit and 16% of debit transactions.

This lead is expected to grow as Visa consolidates its market position and reaches into untapped markets.

"In many international markets like Asia, Visa has an even wider lead," Edward Jones analyst Andrew Miedler told investors Thursday. "Looking forward, we expect Visa to maintain its leadership position and be a key beneficiary of the shift to card-based purchasing."

Market watchers said they were waiting eagerly for the day Visa would granted membership on one of the stock-market indexes.

"Investors salivating at the thought of jumping on the Visa bandwagon by investing in an [exchange-traded fund] are likely to come away disappointed -- it'll take a while for the stock to enter the indexes that these funds track," Morningstar analyst Jeffrey Ptak said.

But Visa's sheer size could aid it in that endeavor, Ptak conceded. "With a $50 billion-plus market cap based on Wednesday's close, Visa easily clears that threshold" and could appear in an index such as the S&P 500 by the first week of April.

However, market ebullience should be leavened with caution, some analysts advised Thursday, since Visa still faces quite a few hurdles to long-term growth.

"We believe the biggest risks [for Visa] include increased governmental regulation of interchange, which is the bulk of the amount merchants pay on card-based transactions," Edward Jones's Miedler said. Economic sensitivity to consumer spending, Visa's lack of a market track record, limited available information and litigation risk could affect shares at some point, he said.

[BadThad]

However, market ebullience should be leavened with caution, some analysts advised Thursday, since Visa still faces quite a few hurdles to long-term growth.

"We believe the biggest risks [for Visa] include increased governmental regulation of interchange, which is the bulk of the amount merchants pay on card-based transactions," Edward Jones's Miedler said. Economic sensitivity to consumer spending, Visa's lack of a market track record, limited available information and litigation risk could affect shares at some point, he said.

Tell you what....I hate these pessimistic bungholes. One side of the market I can't stand is these consistently negative "expert" analysts. Hell, they bought down VMW and many other great stocks by injecting fear of what they see in their crystal ball years from now. KISS MY GRITS MORONS! Visa is strong and will get stronger, none of your fear mongering is justified as the earnings will continue to flow. Let's break this ahole down:

increased governmental regulation of interchange

There's nothing in the books or even being considered. It's free enterprise working at it's finest. He must have used some long forceps to pull this out out of his ass.

Economic sensitivity to consumer spending

OK, so we may have a short time when consumer spending is off a little....well duh....it's all part of the cycle Mr.Genius! Spending will also go way up down the road.

Visa's lack of a market track record

Can you dream up any other BS? Look at Mastercard maybe you fool? Visa will be fine unless all you neg aholes scare everyone from the stock for fear of what might happen 10 years from today.

limited available information

WHAT? Everyone has tons of info on Visa as a company, try Google dumba$$.

litigation risk

Does this tard even read? Everyone but him knows Visa set aside some $3 billion for future litigation risk.

[BadThad]

They should add stockmarketcats as a place Andy is quoted on! LOL

http://www.edwardjones.com/cgi/getHT...s/miedler.html