A V-ictory for Mastercard?

3/19 - "We reiterate our Buy and $250 price target, as we believe MA should be a direct beneficiary of the Visa IPO that priced last night. The historic offering vastly improves the visibility, liquidity, and overall importance of the payments space...We spent some time dissecting the various nuances of the two businesses, and based on this work we conclude that they are too similar to trade at vastly different valuations going forward."

"Visa has many advantages over MA: #1 franchise, dominant market share, leading PIN-debit presence, faster top line growth with higher operating margins, and less headline legal risks due to how the offering was structured. MasterCard’s edges include higher margin upside due to more excess capacity and less promotional commitments, a simpler organizational structure that should maximize SEPA participation, a more established manag...