It's a fine time to be Visa (NYSE: V). As the top credit card processor in a world rapidly moving away from cash to alternatives like plastic, the company is posting strong growth in all the right areas.
The market has noticed this success, however. Like perennial rival Mastercard (NYSE: MA), the company's shares are up by over 34% on the year, nearly triple the growth of the S&P 500 -- which includes Visa and Mastercard as components, by the way. This has pushed Visa stock's key valuations up; the trailing 12-month P/E now stands at 39. Are the shares worth buying at such a high level?
Analysts have been projecting growth for Visa for some time now, but not this much growth. The company's Q3 saw it blow past estimates for both revenue and adjusted net profit, growing both by 26% on a year-over-year basis. These line items came in at $4.57 billion and $2.06 billion, respectively.
Source: Fool.com