Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of 19 stocks in the fintech and digital assets sectors. The firm explained that it is launching coverage of these stocks amid a crucial moment when “a wholesale re-design of global financial infrastructure is currently underway.” Specifically, Cantor named Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and Block (XYZ) as its top picks. Visa and Mastercard are scheduled to announce their December quarter earnings on Thursday, January 29.
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Cantor believes that sector champions need to have exposure to four key disruptive areas: stablecoins, agentic commerce, real-world asset tokenization, and/or embedded finance.
Cantor Fitzgerald Is Bullish on Visa Stock
Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, led by Ramsey El-Assal, initiated a Buy rating on Visa stock with a price target of $400, saying “Despite regulatory noise, still a once-in-a-generation model with deepest of moats.”
El-Assal highlighted the “deep, duopolistic” competitive moat of Visa and Mastercard. He believes that Visa’s role as a transaction facilitator rather than a money transporter protects it from many potentially disruptive trends, such as the emergence of stablecoins. The analyst expects Visa to drive slight, incremental growth through higher pricing as the company continues to expand its value-added services (VAS) and as digital transaction adoption grows.
Meanwhile, Wall Street expects Visa to report Q1 FY26 earnings per share (EPS) of $3.14, reflecting 14.2% year-over-year growth. Revenue is estimated to increase by 12.4% to $10.68 billion.
Overall, Visa scores a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 22 Buys and three Holds. The average V stock price target of $403.68 indicates 23% upside potential. Visa stock is down more than 6% so far this year.
Cantor Analyst Initiates Coverage of Mastercard Stock with a Buy Rating
Like in the case of Visa, Cantor is optimistic about Mastercard due to its role as a transaction facilitator, rather than a money transporter, competitive moat, and its VAS product suite. Both Visa and Mastercard are expected to benefit from the global secular shift from paper to electronic payments. Also, the VAS offerings of these companies and new flows are expected to significantly expand their total addressable markets.
Interestingly, analyst El-Assal prefers Mastercard over Visa, given its higher revenue growth, margin expansion potential, and fewer legal and regulatory risks.
Mastercard is expected to report Q4 2025 EPS of $4.24, reflecting an 11% year-over-year growth. Revenue is estimated to increase by 17% to $8.77 billion.
Ahead of the Q4 2025 earnings, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on Mastercard stock based on 22 Buys and four Holds. The average MA stock price target of $664.76 indicates 26.1% upside potential. MA stock is down about 8% so far this year.
