Invest better with The Motley Fool. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool's premium services.
Lower spending in categories like travel likely impacted the credit card giant's business last month.
*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.
Alert: Top Cash Back Card Now Offers 0% Intro APR Until Nearly 2027
Enjoy 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months—plus up to 5% cash back in popular categories.
Motley Fool Returns
Market-beating stocks from our flagship service.
Calculated by average return of all stock recommendations since inception of the Stock Advisor service in February of 2002. Returns as of 2025-08-28 21:15:17.461576.
Discounted offers are only available to new members. Stock Advisor list price is $199 per year.
Calculated by Time-Weighted Return since 2002. Volatility profiles based on trailing-three-year calculations of the standard deviation of service investment returns.
Visa (V +0.00%) stock modestly outperformed a weak market last month by dropping 11% compared to a 12.5% decline in the S&P 500, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That move helped keep the financial services giant just ahead of broader markets so far in 2020, with a 19% loss year to date.
Image source: Getty Images.
Visa was caught in the general market turmoil after COVID-19 forced the temporary dampening of economic activity around the world last month. With major spending categories like restaurants, travel, and retailing nearly halted, the credit card giant likely saw a significant decline in its business last month. Yet Wall Street's main worry is that this temporary drop will mature into a recession that harms the business for more than just a single quarter.
Visa said in early March that it had seen only a minor impact on its business to date, yet that was before conditions deteriorated in the middle of the month. As a result, investors might have to wait until the company's second-quarter earnings release -- likely in late April -- to hear details about how coronavirus is affecting spending trends, and when that slump might give way to rebounding sales gains.