Visa and MasterCard's Big Advantage Over Credit Providers

By David Hanson – Jun 17, 2014 at 2:11PM

NYSE: COF

Capital One Financial

Market Cap

$56B

Today's Change

(-1.95%) -$2.90

Current Price

$145.97

Price as of April 25, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ET

Do the economics of Visa and MasterCard still make them a great long-term holding?

Shares of Visa and MasterCard are down and lagging the broader market so far in 2014. The payment processors are also lagging behind lenders like Discover and Capital One as those companies continue to benefit from an improving credit market.

Are these lenders poised to continue to running ahead of the volume-focused processors or do the economics of Visa and MasterCard still make them a better long-term holding?

In the following video, Motley Fool banking analyst David Hanson discusses one of Visa and MasterCard's biggest advantages and why the two companies are more "recession-proof" than credit card lenders.

David Hanson owns shares of Capital One Financial (Warrant). The Motley Fool recommends MasterCard and Visa. The Motley Fool owns shares of Capital One Financial., Discover Financial Services, MasterCard, and Visa. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.