In the spirit of World Cup competition, we're holding our own tournament in search of the Better Stock Today. We're pitting 32 companies against each other, and you, the reader, will determine the winner.
Visa takes on Pfizer for this first round-robin matchup in our search for the better stock today.
Financials analyst David Hanson thinks Visa (V +0.77%) should advance to the next round because of the business's importance to the global economy. During the recent economic sanction battle between the U.S. and Russia, the potential loss of Visa's network caused the Kremlin to work out a deal with the payment processor. In addition to its crucial function, the company sports some of the most impressive margins across any business. With a management team committed to returning capital to shareholders, investors would hard-pressed to find a better long-term buy than Visa.
David Williamson, Motley Fool health-care analyst, thinks Pfizer (PFE 0.65%) should advance to the next round because of one big reason -- it isn't afraid to think big. Pfizer has gone through a radical transformation -- gone are nutrition and animal health, and off-patent drugs may be next. Pfizer was unable to pull off a merger with AstraZeneca to dramatically lower its tax rate, but that doesn't mean the company's financial engineering is done. Expect Pfizer to spend the money on shareholder-friendly actions like increasing its dividend and ramping up share buybacks.
Vote here to determine the winner of this match and sound off in the comments. Check back to Fool.com to see who advances in the tournament.
