Visa Inc. (V) — Company Research
Last Updated: 26 September 2026
Visa is heading into the end of its fiscal year with revenue growth running faster than at any point since FY2022. Net revenue rose 14% to $11,633m in the quarter to 30 June 2026, payments volume passed $4 trillion in a quarter for the first time, and management raised its full-year outlook. The same period brought $563m of severance costs, a further provision for the US interchange class action and new escrow deposits for litigation. Visa has also agreed to buy fraud-prevention company BioCatch and is building stablecoin settlement and payments for AI agents. This report sets out what Visa's SEC filings and earnings releases show: revenue, earnings, cash flow, debt, insider dealing and scheduled events. Every valuation figure is shown as a calculation.
1. Company Snapshot
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Visa Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California |
| Ticker / exchange | V (Class A common stock), New York Stock Exchange |
| CEO / Leadership | Ryan McInerney (Chief Executive Officer); Chris Suh (Chief Financial Officer) |
| Employees | About 34,100 at 30 September 2025 (FY2025 Form 10-K), up from about 31,600 a year earlier |
| Revenue (FY2025) | Net revenue $40,000m, up 11% year on year (fiscal year ended 30 September 2025) |
| Net income (FY2025, GAAP) | $20,058m; GAAP diluted EPS $10.20; non-GAAP diluted EPS $11.47 |
| Revenue (trailing twelve months to 30 June 2026) | $44,488m |
| Market cap | ~$685.9bn on an as-converted basis, counting Class B and C shares at their Class A equivalents (Google Finance, 25 September 2026 close of $367.38). Class A shares alone (1,704.1m at 21 July 2026) are worth ~$626.1bn |
| Payments volume | More than $4 trillion in Q3 FY2026, up 10% in constant dollars; 71.7bn processed transactions, up 10% |
| Dividend | $0.67 a quarter ($2.68 annualised), last paid on 1 September 2026 |
| Most recent reported period | Q3 FY2026 (quarter ended 30 June 2026), reported 28 July 2026 |
Live price action for V and the wider payments sector can be followed on the ChartsView Live Charts page.
2. Bull Case and Bear Case
Bull Case
- Revenue growth is accelerating: net revenue grew 15%, 17% and 14% in the first three quarters of FY2026, against 11% for FY2025. Management raised its FY2026 outlook to net revenue growth at the low end of low teens and EPS growth at the low end of mid-teens.
- Exceptional cash conversion: trailing operating cash flow was $22,580m against capital expenditure of $1,567m. Visa returned $6.2bn to shareholders in Q3 FY2026 alone and had $28.4bn of buyback authorisation remaining at 30 June 2026.
- Value-added services are compounding: value-added services revenue reached $3.8bn in Q3 FY2026, up 34%, and other revenue rose 45%. The pending BioCatch acquisition adds behavioural fraud-detection tools to that business.
- Cross-border travel remains strong: cross-border volume rose 13% in constant dollars in Q3 FY2026. International transaction revenue was $14,166m in FY2025, about 35% of net revenue.
- Positioned in new payment rails: stablecoin settlement is running above $20bn a year, more than 15 times a year earlier. More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programmes run on the network, and Visa Intelligent Commerce has partnerships with OpenAI and Meta for payments made by AI agents.
Bear Case
- Litigation keeps absorbing cash: Visa put $500m, $125m, $250m and $405m into its US litigation escrow between December 2025 and September 2026. It booked a $237m interchange class-action provision in Q3 FY2026, and merchants have filed objections to the proposed interchange settlement.
- Two open government and legislative threats: the US Department of Justice debit monopolisation case is in discovery until 29 January 2027. The Credit Card Competition Act, which would require routing choice on credit cards, gained three Senate co-sponsors in August 2026.
- Restructuring costs are rising: Q3 FY2026 included $563m of severance as Visa cut roles, mainly in technology and product teams. GAAP net income grew only 7% in the quarter against 14% revenue growth.
- Client incentives grow faster than gross revenue: incentives paid to banks and merchants were $15,751m in FY2025, up 14%, and rose 18% in Q3 FY2026. That is faster than service revenue growth.
- A high multiple for a slowing volume base: the stock trades at ~31x trailing GAAP earnings and ~33x trailing free cash flow, while payments volume growth is around 10%. Insiders were sellers throughout 2026, including a $20.9m sale by the Vice Chair in July.
3. Business Segments
Visa reports a single operating segment. It discloses gross revenue in four categories, with client incentives deducted to arrive at net revenue. The percentages below are shares of FY2025 net revenue, so the gross categories add to more than 100% before incentives are deducted.
| Segment / category | % of revenue | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Service revenue | 43.8% ($17,539m, +9%) | Fees charged to issuing banks for the payment services supporting their Visa-branded cards, based mainly on payments volume from the prior quarter |
| Data processing revenue | 50.0% ($19,993m, +13%) | Fees for authorising, clearing and settling transactions on VisaNet and for other processing and value-added services |
| International transaction revenue | 35.4% ($14,166m, +12%) | Fees on cross-border transactions and currency conversion, driven by travel and e-commerce volumes |
| Other revenue | 10.1% ($4,053m, +27%) | Advisory, marketing, licensing and other value-added services, including issuer processing through Pismo |
| Client incentives | −39.4% (−$15,751m, +14%) | Payments and incentives to financial institutions, merchants and partners, deducted from gross revenue |
4. Business Model and Moat
How it makes money. Visa does not lend money or issue cards. It runs the network that connects card-issuing banks, merchants' banks, merchants and cardholders, and it charges fees for each part of a transaction. Revenue therefore follows payments volume, transaction counts and cross-border activity rather than credit losses or interest rates. Because the network is software, capital spending is low: $1,482m in FY2025 against $23,059m of operating cash flow.
Where the durable advantage sits. The network effect is the moat. Billions of Visa credentials are accepted by merchants worldwide because cardholders carry them, and cardholders carry them because merchants accept them. VisaNet's scale, tokenisation (close to 60% of global e-commerce transactions) and fraud tools make it costly for banks and merchants to route elsewhere. New services such as Visa Direct, issuer processing and fraud prevention sell into the same bank relationships.
Where the model is fragile. Much of the threat comes from regulators and courts rather than rivals. Interchange and routing rules, antitrust suits and legislation can all change what the network charges and how transactions are routed. Account-to-account payment systems, supported by governments in several countries, bypass card networks. Visa's answer is to offer its own account-to-account and stablecoin products and to carry payments initiated by AI agents.
5. Financial Health
All figures come from Visa's quarterly earnings releases and Form 10-K and 10-Q filings, cross-checked against its SEC XBRL data. Fiscal years end on 30 September. EPS figures are per Class A share. The dividend column is the quarterly rate declared in each fiscal year multiplied by four; Visa raises it each October.
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($m) | YoY % | GAAP EPS | Adjusted EPS | Dividend/share | Long-term debt (YE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | 24,105 | +10.3% | $5.63 | $5.91 | $1.28 | $19,978m |
| FY2022 | 29,310 | +21.6% | $7.00 | $7.50 | $1.50 | $20,200m |
| FY2023 | 32,653 | +11.4% | $8.28 | $8.77 | $1.80 | $20,463m |
| FY2024 | 35,926 | +10.0% | $9.73 | $10.05 | $2.08 | $20,836m |
| FY2025 | 40,000 | +11.3% | $10.20 | $11.47 | $2.36 | $19,602m |
† Revenue is net revenue, after client incentives. Adjusted EPS is Visa's own non-GAAP diluted Class A EPS, which excludes items such as litigation provisions, equity investment gains and losses, amortisation of acquired intangibles and restructuring costs. ‡ Long-term debt is the non-current portion at fiscal year end. The current portion was a further $999m at FY2021, $2,250m at FY2022, nil at FY2023 and FY2024, and $5,569m at FY2025. At 30 June 2026, current debt was $2,996m and non-current debt $20,862m, a total of $23,858m, after $3.0bn of senior notes were issued in February 2026.
Cash generation and balance sheet: FY2025 operating cash flow was $23,059m, capital expenditure $1,482m and depreciation and amortisation $1,220m. GAAP operating income was $23,994m. For the twelve months to 30 June 2026, operating cash flow was $22,580m, capital expenditure $1,567m and depreciation and amortisation $1,342m. At 30 June 2026, cash and equivalents were $12,359m and available-for-sale debt securities maturing within a year $1,137m, a total of $13,496m against $23,858m of debt. Net debt was therefore about $10.4bn, and total equity was $35,178m.
| Quarter / Half | Revenue ($m) | Adjusted EPS | GAAP EPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 FY2026 | 11,633 | $3.32 | $2.97 |
| Q2 FY2026 | 11,230 | $3.31 | $3.14 |
| Q1 FY2026 | 10,901 | $3.17 | $3.03 |
| Q4 FY2025 | 10,724 | $2.98 | $2.62 |
| Q3 FY2025 | 10,172 | $2.98 | $2.69 |
| Q2 FY2025 | 9,594 | $2.76 | $2.32 |
| Q1 FY2025 | 9,510 | $2.75 | $2.58 |
| FY2025 total | 40,000 | $11.47 | $10.20 |
Q3 FY2026 net revenue rose 14% (13% in constant dollars), and GAAP operating income was $6,877m against $6,177m a year earlier. GAAP net income was $5,628m (+7%), held back by $563m of severance and a $237m interchange litigation provision; non-GAAP net income was $6,296m (+8%). For Q4 FY2026 management guided adjusted net revenue growth at the high end of low double digits and EPS growth at the low end of mid-teens.
6. Valuation Metrics
Raw metrics, September 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Market cap | ~$685.9bn as-converted, including Class B and C shares at Class A equivalents (~$626.1bn for Class A shares alone), at the $367.38 close of 25 September 2026 |
| Trailing P/E (GAAP) | ~31.2x (price $367.38 / trailing twelve-month GAAP diluted EPS $11.76, the sum of Q4 FY2025 to Q3 FY2026). On Visa's non-GAAP EPS of $12.78 over the same four quarters the multiple is ~28.7x |
| P/E (forward) | ~27.8x (price $367.38 / ~$13.20 FY2026 non-GAAP EPS, derived from nine-month actual EPS of $9.80 plus Q4 FY2025 EPS of $2.98 grown at the guided low end of mid-teens) |
| P/S (TTM) | ~15.4x (market cap $685.9bn / trailing net revenue $44.49bn) |
| Enterprise value | ~$696.3bn (market cap $685.9bn + total debt $23.86bn − cash and short-term debt securities $13.50bn, per the 30 June 2026 balance sheet) |
| EV/EBITDA (TTM) | ~24.6x (EV $696.3bn / EBITDA $28.34bn; EBITDA = trailing GAAP operating income $27.00bn + depreciation and amortisation $1.34bn from the cash flow statement). Trailing GAAP operating income is after $563m of severance and a $237m interchange litigation provision booked in Q3 FY2026 |
| P/FCF | ~32.6x (market cap $685.9bn / free cash flow $21.01bn; FCF = trailing operating cash flow $22.58bn − capital expenditure $1.57bn) |
| 52-week high | $385.57 (26 August 2026) |
| 52-week low | $293.89 (1 April 2026) |
| Short interest (% of float) | ~1.1% of float, being 18.53m shares short at the 15 September 2026 settlement date (Nasdaq data via Yahoo Finance). MarketBeat showed 22.25m shares, 1.25% of float, at 14 August 2026 |
| Days to cover | ~3.0 days at the 15 September 2026 settlement date (3.6 days at 14 August 2026) |
| Price/book | ~19.5x (market cap $685.9bn / total equity $35.18bn at 30 June 2026) |
Visa's market capitalisation depends on how the Class B and Class C shares are counted. Class B conversion rates fall each time Visa deposits money into its US litigation escrow, most recently on 18 September 2026. Using the Class A-only figure instead would lower every market-cap-based multiple above by about 9%.
7. What Are They Building
Payments for AI agents. Visa Intelligent Commerce lets AI agents make purchases using Visa credentials. Visa published its Trusted Agent Protocol on 14 October 2025 and launched Intelligent Commerce Connect on 8 April 2026. Connect is a single integration that supports several agent protocols and makes merchant catalogues visible to agents. A partnership with OpenAI followed on 10 June 2026, and management cited Meta as a partner on the Q3 call.
Stablecoins and onchain settlement. Visa launched US settlement in USDC on 16 December 2025, added five more blockchains in April 2026, and launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform for minting, moving and managing stablecoins on 16 July 2026. On 8 September 2026 it began sharing settlement data with onchain lenders. Stablecoin settlement is running above $20bn a year.
Money movement and value-added services. Visa Direct handled 4bn transactions in Q3 FY2026, up 21%, and was extended to UnionPay cards in mainland China in February. Visa is expanding issuer processing through Pismo and DPS. It closed the purchase of Prisma Medios de Pago and Newpay in Argentina on 27 February 2026 and agreed to buy BioCatch for $2.4bn in cash on 3 August 2026.
New credential types. Visa Flex Credential lets a single card draw on debit, credit, instalments or prepaid balances. It rolled out in the UK with Zilch in May 2026 and in Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa in August. Enhanced A2A Protect fraud tools for account-to-account payments launched on 1 September 2026.
8. Competitive Landscape
Market capitalisations were re-checked live at the 25 September 2026 close. Metrics come from each company's own full-year results release.
| Peer | Market cap (September 2026) | Key 2025 metric |
|---|---|---|
| Mastercard (MA) | ~$497.3bn | 2025 net revenue $32.8bn, up 16% (Mastercard Q4 2025 release) |
| American Express (AXP) | ~$208.6bn | 2025 revenue net of interest expense $72.2bn, up 10% (American Express full-year 2025 release) |
| PayPal (PYPL) | ~$47.1bn | 2025 revenue $33.2bn, up 4%; total payment volume $1.79 trillion, up 7% (PayPal full-year 2025 release) |
| Block (XYZ) | ~$45.9bn | 2025 gross profit $10.36bn, up 17% (Block Q4 2025 results) |
| Adyen (ADYEN, Euronext Amsterdam) | ~€27.6bn | 2025 net revenue €2,364m, up 18%; processed volume €1,394bn (Adyen H2 2025 results) |
| Fiserv (FISV) | ~$24.7bn | 2025 adjusted revenue $19.80bn, up 4%; adjusted EPS $8.64 (Fiserv full-year 2025 release) |
Visa's market value is larger than Mastercard's by about $190bn and larger than the other five peers combined. Mastercard runs the same four-party network model and is the closest comparison. American Express both issues cards and runs its own network, so it carries credit risk that Visa does not. PayPal, Block, Adyen and Fiserv compete for merchant acceptance and wallet share but mostly route card payments over the Visa and Mastercard networks.
9. Insider Activity
Chief Executive Ryan McInerney sold shares regularly through 2026 under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The largest single sale was by Vice Chair Kelly Mahon Tullier on 30 July 2026, and it was not marked as a plan sale. No open-market purchases by insiders were found this year. The table is compiled from SEC Form 4 filings.
| Name | Date | Type | Shares | Price | Value | Plan Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julie Rottenberg (General Counsel) | 09 Sep 2026 | Option exercise and sale | 1,867 | $368.34 | ~$0.69m | Rule 10b5-1 (adopted 1 June 2026) |
| Ryan McInerney (CEO) | 01 Sep 2026 | Option exercise and sale | 5,875 | $379.65 | ~$2.23m | Rule 10b5-1 (adopted 22 May 2026) |
| Julie Rottenberg (General Counsel) | 31 Aug 2026 | Sale | 2,028 | $381.35 | ~$0.77m | Rule 10b5-1 (adopted 1 June 2026) |
| Ryan McInerney (CEO) | 21 Aug 2026 | Sale | 5,875 | $367.87 | ~$2.16m | Rule 10b5-1 |
| Kelly Mahon Tullier (Vice Chair, Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer) | 30 Jul 2026 | Sale, partly after option exercise | 57,272 | ~$365 | ~$20.9m | Not a 10b5-1 plan sale |
| Ryan McInerney (CEO) | 01 Jul 2026 | Sale | 10,490 | ~$343.99 | ~$3.61m | Rule 10b5-1 (not verified on the form) |
| Ryan McInerney (CEO) | 29 Jun 2026 | Sale | 20,970 | $340.25 | ~$7.14m | Rule 10b5-1 (adopted 15 May 2025) |
| Chris Suh (CFO) | 12 May 2026 | Sale | 10,639 | $324.81 | ~$3.46m | Not a 10b5-1 plan sale |
McInerney also sold 31,455 shares at $340.14, about $10.7m, on 29 April 2026. His sales since late June total about $15.1m on the transactions listed. Most were planned in advance, so they carry less information about his view of the shares than discretionary trades would.
10. Key Risks
- Antitrust litigation: the US interchange class action is not finally settled, and merchants have filed objections to the proposed settlement. Visa has $17.4bn of interchange fees at issue in unresolved US claims (as of 11 May 2026), and it keeps funding its litigation escrow, most recently with $405m on 18 September 2026.
- Department of Justice debit case: the government's debit monopolisation lawsuit is in discovery until 29 January 2027, with trial not expected before 2028. An adverse outcome could restrict Visa's debit routing incentives and pricing.
- Legislation on routing and fees: the Credit Card Competition Act would require large issuers to offer a second, non-Visa or Mastercard network for credit card transactions. It gained three Senate co-sponsors on 10 August 2026, although no floor vote has been scheduled.
- Payment rails that bypass cards: government-backed account-to-account systems, real-time payments and stablecoins could take volume from card networks, particularly in markets where Visa's share is lower.
- Cross-border and macro sensitivity: international transaction revenue was about 35% of FY2025 net revenue and depends on travel and currency volatility. A recession or travel shock would hit the highest-margin part of the business first.
- Execution on restructuring and acquisitions: Visa took $563m of severance in Q3 FY2026 and is integrating Prisma and Newpay while BioCatch is pending. Cutting technology and product roles while building new agentic and stablecoin products carries delivery risk.
11. Recent Developments
- 24 Sep 2026 — Independent-ATM fee settlement publicised. Coverage of a $167.5m settlement between Visa, Mastercard and independent ATM operators showed Visa's share at $88.775m. Objections and opt-outs are due by 11 December 2026, and the final approval hearing is set for 17 February 2027.
- 19 Sep 2026 — Merchants object to interchange settlement. 978 merchants and trade associations filed objections to the proposed settlement of the US interchange class action, which received preliminary approval on 9 June 2026. Final approval remains pending.
- 18 Sep 2026 — $405m deposited into the litigation escrow. The deposit lowered the conversion rates of Class B-1, B-2 and B-3 shares into Class A shares, as set out in an 8-K filed on 23 September.
- 08 Sep 2026 — Onchain lending linked to Visa settlement. Visa said it will share settlement data with onchain lenders. Stablecoin settlement volume is running above $20bn a year, more than 15 times its level a year earlier.
- 28 Aug 2026 — Discovery extended in the DOJ debit case. A magistrate judge extended fact discovery to 29 January 2027 and ordered document production by 30 September 2026.
- 03 Aug 2026 — Agreement to acquire BioCatch. Visa agreed to pay $2.4bn in cash for the behavioural-biometrics fraud-prevention company, with completion expected by the end of Q2 FY2027.
- 28 Jul 2026 — Q3 FY2026 results and raised outlook. Net revenue was $11,633m (+14%) and non-GAAP EPS $3.32 (+11%). GAAP EPS was $2.97 after severance and litigation charges. Visa repurchased 14.5m shares for $4.9bn and declared a $0.67 quarterly dividend.
12. Key Dates to Watch
- 30 Sep 2026 — FY2026 fiscal year end, and the court's deadline for document production in the DOJ debit case.
- Expected Oct 2026 — Q4 and FY2026 results; date not yet announced. Visa reported on 28 October in 2025 and 29 October in 2024 and has raised its dividend with Q4 results in each recent year.
- 11 Dec 2026 — deadline to object to or opt out of the independent-ATM fee settlement.
- Expected Jan 2027 — 2027 annual meeting of stockholders; the 2026 meeting was held on 27 January 2026.
- 29 Jan 2027 — close of fact discovery in the DOJ debit monopolisation case.
- 17 Feb 2027 — final approval hearing for the independent-ATM fee settlement.
- TBC — final court approval of the US interchange class-action settlement, and completion of the BioCatch acquisition (expected by the end of March 2027).
Macro releases that move payments stocks, such as retail sales and consumer spending data, are listed on the ChartsView Economic Calendar. Reader discussion of these dates continues in the Forum.
Disclaimer: This research is produced by ChartsView for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All information is sourced from publicly available company filings, press releases, and official data. ChartsView does not use analyst opinions or third-party ratings. Always conduct your own due diligence and consider your personal financial situation before making investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Loading research report…
13. Thesis Verdict
The central thesis. Visa runs the payments network that links card-issuing banks, merchants' banks and cardholders, and earns fees on payments volume, processing and cross-border transactions rather than on lending. FY2025 net revenue was $40,000m, up 11%, with GAAP diluted EPS of $10.20 and non-GAAP EPS of $11.47. Q3 FY2026 net revenue rose 14% to $11,633m and non-GAAP EPS 11% to $3.32. Management raised its FY2026 outlook to net revenue growth at the low end of low teens and EPS growth at the low end of mid-teens. The structural drivers are value-added services, up 34% to $3.8bn in the quarter, and new rails such as stablecoin settlement and payments made by AI agents. The next catalyst is the Q4 FY2026 report, expected in late October 2026 but not yet dated.
What would confirm or break it. The thesis is confirmed if Q4 results land within the raised outlook, cross-border volume keeps growing in double digits, and value-added services keep outgrowing the core. It is broken by an adverse turn in the US interchange class action or the Department of Justice debit case, by passage of the Credit Card Competition Act, or by client incentives and restructuring costs continuing to outpace revenue growth.
Watchpoints
- ConfirmsSubsequent earnings and filings reinforcing the figures presented in this report.
- ConfirmsEvidence supporting the "Revenue growth is accelerating:" thesis continuing to build across subsequent filings.
- InvalidatesMaterialisation of the "Antitrust litigation:" risk, or any disclosure that fundamentally alters the capital-return or growth profile stated by management.
Diagnostic grid
Generated by ChartsView research tooling. Thesis strength measures how well the evidence in this report supports the company's stated thesis — it is NOT a buy/sell rating or price target. ChartsView is not authorised by the FCA to provide regulated investment advice. Generated 26 Sep 2026.