Visa: Not Where You Want To Be

It's been a while since I've looked at some of the credit card names, but there's been a few interesting events lately that I feel I must discuss. A number of my readers have asked for an update on this space, and so today, I will do that. My primary focus will be on Visa (V), with a comparison to the growth-comparable MasterCard (MA). In the end, my goal is to explain why I wouldn't jump into Visa just yet, and why a short position could actually work right now.

Last week, Visa announced its fiscal fourth quarter results. This report was for the calendar Q3 period, but Visa's fiscal year ends at the end of September. Overall, the results were not that great in my opinion. The company announced a revenue number of $3.02 billion, which missed analyst expectations. If you look at Visa's recent earnings history, you will see that this is the first miss in two years. Read more.