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Exclusive Story Why Mastercard and Visa Are the Definition of Forever StocksSubmitted by Jordan Chussler. Date Posted: 3/14/2026. 
Key Points - The financials sector has lagged the S&P 500 this year, but two payment processing giants continue to deliver the kind of margins and earnings consistency that define long-term holdings.
- Despite recent sector-wide struggles, Visa and Mastercard function as a veritable duopoly, controlling over 90% of payments outside of China.
- Visa hasn't missed on earnings in 10 years, while Mastercard has secured 21 consecutive quarterly beats.
- Special Report: Elon's "Hidden" Company
After finishing the past two years with an average annual gain of nearly 23%, the financials sector has struggled this year. With a year-to-date loss of around 9%, the cohort ranks last among the S&P 500's 11 sectors. But zooming out, the companies that call the sector home have proven to be key components of buy-and-hold investors' portfolios. I Met Elon Musk "Face-to-Face" During a private gathering of Wall Street elites, I was one of two people selected to speak with Elon personally. As a result, my research now leads me to believe Elon will announce the SpaceX IPO on this date: March 26, 2026. Circle it on your calendar. I'm sharing an "access code" that lets anyone grab a pre-IPO stake before it happens. This is your invitation to the biggest wealth-building event of the decade. Click Here to See how to Get Your "SpaceX Access Code" With high-quality growth stocks increasingly difficult to find, two legacy firms in the global payment processing and digital payments markets continue to produce profit margins that qualify them as classic forever stocks: Mastercard and Visa. Why Digital Payment and Payment Processors Make for Good Forever Stocks These companies have historically enjoyed higher profit margins than many other industries, driven by high-volume demand, extensive automation and technology-driven business models that keep marginal costs per transaction low. The industry is also set for strong growth. According to industry analytics firm Grand View Research, the global payment processing solutions market, valued at nearly $48 billion in 2022, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5% through 2030, reaching nearly $140 billion by the start of the next decade. Grand View also forecasts that the digital payment market, valued at more than $114 billion in 2024, will expand at a CAGR of 21.4% through 2030, reaching more than $361 billion. That degree of growth, combined with attractive gross margins, might suggest the space is crowded. Yet two of the biggest names still operate in a near-duopoly, controlling over 90% of credit card and digital payments processed outside China. With roots dating back to the mid-1900s, these companies control critical payment infrastructure, allowing them to set fees, limit competition and maintain very strong margins. While newer players — including Block (NYSE: XYZ), with its Cash App, and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), with Venmo — aim to disrupt the space, few firms match Mastercard and Visa as long-term holdings. Mastercard: The $450 Billion Market Cap Company Focusing on Tech Integration Since Michael Miebach took the reins at Mastercard (NYSE: MA) in 2021, management has focused on expanding tech platforms, supporting cross-border commerce and developing services that help clients reduce fraud, streamline payment flows and extract insights from payments data. Those efforts helped Mastercard deliver record revenue and net income in fiscal 2025. Revenue of nearly $33 billion reflected a year-over-year (YOY) increase of more than 16%, while net income of nearly $15 billion grew by more than 16% YOY as well. Much of that profitability was driven by an effectively 100% gross margin in 2025, enabled by tech integrations and a minimal cost of goods sold, which resulted in quarterly gross profit closely matching quarterly net revenue. For investors, that has translated into reliable earnings performance. The last time Mastercard missed on earnings was Q3 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the company has posted 21 consecutive quarterly earnings beats. Most recently, the company reported Q4 2025 EPS of $4.76, a nearly 25% YOY increase. Mastercard's earnings are expected to rise almost 17% in the year ahead, from $15.91 to $18.61 per share. At the same time, the company has been embracing broader fintech trends. Mastercard has shifted from a traditional payment network toward an AI-driven, software-focused enterprise emphasizing enhanced security, simplified B2B transactions with virtual cards and agentic AI tools. Icing the cake, Mastercard pays a dividend that, while not large (currently 0.69%), has increased for 13 consecutive years. The firm maintains a sustainable payout ratio of about 21.07%, and its annualized five-year dividend growth rate is roughly 13.70%. Visa: Evolving and Adapting Since 1958 Visa (NYSE: V) operates a network-based model that lets partnering banks and other financial institutions issue branded payment products while Visa focuses on infrastructure, standards and technology integration. Like Mastercard, Visa is rapidly integrating fintech, emphasizing AI-driven solutions and blockchain-based settlement, with the goal of moving from traditional card-based transactions to more flexible, digital-first experiences. That strategy helped Visa report record revenue and net income in 2025, with revenue of about $40 billion—an 11% YOY increase—and net income near $20 billion. Visa's consistency is notable. The company has not missed on earnings in the past 10 years; during that stretch it met analyst expectations twice and beat EPS estimates 38 times. Much of that performance stems from Visa's strong margins—nearly an 83% gross profit margin in 2025, in line with its 10-year average. Like Mastercard, Visa pays a modest dividend, currently yielding about 0.87%. Its payout ratio is roughly 25.14%, and the annualized five-year dividend growth rate is about 14.48%. The company has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years. | 
