Visa and Mastercard currently rank 7th and 11th on the S&P 500; their stock prices have increased around 50% over the last year; Reuters reports that if they are able to keep up annual gains seen in the past years they could reach market caps of over $1 trillion by 2023; Sandy Villere, portfolio manager of the Villere Balanced Fund noted, “Everything travels on their rails…They literally sit in the middle of the banks, consumers and merchants and that has been a really enviable place to be.” Both companies have been able to double their revenue over the last five years; around 43% of consumer purchases excluding China are made using digital payments, up 28% from 2010; some analysts believe there is still significant room to grow to reach full penetration in 5 to 10 years. Reuters
