Visa upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Mizuho

Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev upgraded Visa (V) to Outperform from Neutral with a price target of $425, up from $359. The firm says its category analysis shows Visa’s “subdued” excess growth versus U.S. personal consumption expenditures post COVID has largely been the result of vertical mix shit, as less card-based categories have outgrown more card-based categories post pandemic. Visa’s cash-to-card runway “still has legs,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. Mizuho points out cash-to-card historically drives two-thirds of the company’s volume growth with the length of the U.S. cash conversion runway being the key investor debate. This adverse trend has started to unwind, and there is more reason for optimism as the remaining cash-to-card runway in the U.S. is longer than previously expected, contends Mizuho. It believes this leaves room for another decade of solid sales growth domestically for Visa.