Visa (V) Competitors

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Is MA or V a better dividend stock?

Mastercard pays an annual dividend of $2.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Visa pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Mastercard pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Visa pays out 24.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Mastercard has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Visa has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Visa is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of MA or V?

97.3% of Mastercard shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.2% of Visa shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Mastercard shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Visa shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better earnings and valuation, MA or V?

Visa has higher revenue and earnings than Mastercard. Visa is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mastercard, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mastercard	$25.10B	19.21	$11.20B	$13.22	39.73
Visa	$35.93B	16.59	$19.74B	$9.73	32.88

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MA or V?

Visa received 837 more outperform votes than Mastercard when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 80.43% of users gave Visa an outperform vote while only 72.89% of users gave Mastercard an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mastercard	Outperform Votes 1535 72.89%	Underperform Votes 571 27.11%
Visa	Outperform Votes 2372 80.43%	Underperform Votes 577 19.57%

Does the media prefer MA or V?

In the previous week, Visa had 34 more articles in the media than Mastercard. MarketBeat recorded 121 mentions for Visa and 87 mentions for Mastercard. Mastercard's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Visa's score of 0.81 indicating that Mastercard is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mastercard	67 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Visa	94 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, MA or V?

Mastercard has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Visa has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MA or V more profitable?

Visa has a net margin of 54.96% compared to Mastercard's net margin of 45.26%. Mastercard's return on equity of 178.27% beat Visa's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mastercard	45.26%	178.27%	29.81%
Visa	54.96%	53.16%	22.08%

Do analysts rate MA or V?

Mastercard presently has a consensus price target of $566.63, suggesting a potential upside of 7.88%. Visa has a consensus price target of $331.92, suggesting a potential upside of 3.74%. Given Mastercard's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Mastercard is more favorable than Visa.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mastercard	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	22 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89
Visa	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	23 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.93

Summary

Visa beats Mastercard on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.