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Visa (V) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Visa (V - Free Report) closed at $214.50, marking a +0.73% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.95%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.8%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.28%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the global payments processor had gained 10.33% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector's gain of 2.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.1% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Visa as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.73, up 16.11% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.03 billion, up 14.65% from the year-ago period.

V's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.16 per share and revenue of $28.61 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +21.15% and +18.7%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Visa. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% higher. Visa is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Visa's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 29.75. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.64, so we one might conclude that Visa is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, V's PEG ratio is currently 1.81. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. V's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.08 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, which puts it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow V in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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