Mastercard Inc. (MA)

Investors have discounted the risk that other forms of payment, particularly mobile payment, could potentially pose for credit card stocks over the long-term. This typically trades at over 20X earnings, which is a bit rich. As an alternative, consider American Express (AXP-N), which is going down market a little, and picking up business from both MasterCard and Visa (V-N). You get a bit of a recurring revenue stream in that AMEX has a traditional bank attached to it as well.

Switched to Visa (V-N) about 4 years ago when there was a proposed charge on debit card fees to merchants. Because Visa’s business was much more highly skewed to debit cards, it got hurt badly and lost its premium to MasterCard for a period of time, which he thought was a wonderful time to switch over. He would definitely use this weakness as an entry point.

It’s a great story. It is a toll bridge that doesn’t take on any credit risk. There is lots of growth. The risk is the fact that people are moving to other payment technologies, especially in other parts of the world. Paypal is one of them. It is not as global as VISA so there is room to grow the franchise there.

They outperformed Visa in the last year by quite a bit. It is a proxy for the relative strength of the US consumer. Does not have balance sheet risk. Thinks they will continue to grow. Good story long term.

It is one of those stocks that is always expensive. Such a good company with a good infrastructure. They get their margin expanding as they put more and more people through the network. It is just a matter of how much you want to pay for it. With the uncertainty coming back into the market, you got a pullback, but it is not the type of company she is looking for. You probably won’t get hurt, however.

Contrarian call. Beaten up YTD. Will benefit from the trend to electronic payments. Have more exposure to international markets, which are faster growing, than Visa has.

Great company with an asset base that can’t be replicated. Had a great run last year and has been pulling back. Likes the profile of the company, but frankly valuation continues to be a little bit rich. Until the selling abates and he can feel confident that momentum is going to turn the other way, he is reluctant to chase these types of stocks.

200 day average was right around the $71-$71.50 mark. The fact that an average has been broken isn’t enough to head for the hills. $68-$71 is your real key level. $65 would be a level where he would get out.

Wonder performer. Also, you don’t have the credit risk of lending to people, you are the processing system and get your 3%-4% on everything that is done. Has been a marvellous formula for making loads of money. Appeared to be expensive when they became public, but have just gone from strength to strength. It is currently at all time highs. At some stage, the growth in the volume of transactions will start to taper off. In fact it is getting slower because people are starting to use things like smart phone, etc.

On her prospective buy list. Stock split a few months ago and it didn’t get down far enough in that mini correction in January. If it gets down low enough she may buy it. Visa is the same. Likes the sector.

Relative to Visa they have significantly more exposure outside of North America and even outside of Europe. This has spooked the market. He likes it, although these companies are expensive.

Likes this. Missed on the last earnings call but when you are looking for a diversified financial play that is a good play on global growth, this and Visa (V-N) fit the bill perfectly. There is a move away from paper money. Valuations are sort of high. A great, long-term growth story. (Prefers Visa (V-N)).

Surprisingly well run. How could they grow that fast when people aren’t signing for MasterCard as fast as the stock has gone up? They increased their profit margin during this time. He can’t see them going up much higher. Revenue growth is 12% and they are growing a little faster than Visa.

The breakdown we are seeing right now sides with the market. The last time it paused, it paused for a while. There was some trading around the $52 level and then further down about $42. We are much further above that. He can see some very tepid support at $67 and also at $60. If you don’t like the risk, he would not be investing a lot of money in this right now. Good quality stock. Looking a little scary right now.

This has probably been the best gainers since 2006. This is really in the 8^th inning of its valuation. He sees a topping out. It is probably worth $940. Very expensive. Going to have a 10 for 1 stock split, which will be very positive. He is thinking about the impact of Bitcoin and you really have to watch companies like this and Visa (V-N). Bitcoin is about money transfer in terms of costs, so it would really impact their business.