Thanks for signing up for DividendStocks.com! It's the daily newsletter built for dividend and income investors. Before we can begin sending your daily updates, there’s one quick step left. Please confirm your subscription using the link below so our emails reach your inbox. Click Here to Confirm Your Subscription to DividendStocks.com Here’s a small glimpse of what you’ll get access to: Dividend Stock Ideas — Each newsletter features dividend stocks with high yields, sustainable payouts, and strong growth potential. Ex-Dividend Stocks — Want to capture upcoming dividend payouts? Find out which stocks are going ex-dividend this week. Market News and Events — Stay in the loop on the latest developments impacting popular dividend names like AT&T, Exxon Mobil, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Verizon. Bonus: As a thank-you for confirming, you’ll also receive a free PDF copy of Automatic Income, our popular guide to building wealth through dividend investing. Let’s get your dividend journey started! Discover Top Income-Generating Stocks Here See you in your inbox soon,
The DividendStocks.com Team P.S. Don’t miss out click here to verify your subscription and secure your daily dividend insights and your free investing guide!
Today's Exclusive News Why Mastercard and Visa Are the Definition of Forever StocksSubmitted by Jordan Chussler. Published: 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 Musk: This Could Turn $100 into $100,000
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. Zooming out, however, the companies that make up the sector remain core holdings for many buy-and-hold investors. With high-quality growth stocks increasingly hard to find, two legacy firms in the global payment-processing and digital-payments markets continue to deliver profit margins and durability that make them strong candidates for long-term investors. Why Digital Payment and Payment Processors Make for Good Forever Stocks These firms typically enjoy higher profit margins than many other industries because of strong, high-volume demand, significant automation, and technology-driven models that produce low marginal costs per transaction. The industry is also positioned for meaningful expansion. According to 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. Grand View also forecasts the digital payment market, valued at more than $114 billion in 2024, will grow at a 21.4% CAGR through 2030, surpassing $361 billion. Such growth and attractive gross margins might suggest the space is crowded, yet two of the largest players still operate in a near-duopoly, handling more than 90% of credit card and digital payments processed outside China. With roots dating back to the mid-20th century, these companies control much of the payments infrastructure, enabling them to set fees, limit competition, and sustain strong margins. Although companies like Block (NYSE: XYZ), with its Cash App service, and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), with Venmo, pursue disruption, two incumbents stand out as the best examples of "forever stocks." Mastercard: The $450 Billion Market Cap Company Focusing on Tech Integration Since Michael Miebach became CEO of Mastercard (NYSE: MA) in 2021, management has emphasized expanding tech platforms, supporting cross-border commerce, and building services that reduce fraud, simplify payment flows and turn payments data into actionable insights. That strategy helped Mastercard post record revenue and net income in 2025. Revenue of nearly $33 billion represented a year-over-year (YOY) increase of more than 16%, and net income of nearly $15 billion rose by a similar percentage. Much of that profitability came from an effectively 100% gross margin in 2025, enabled by tech integrations and very low costs of goods sold, which left quarterly gross profit closely matching quarterly net revenue. For investors, this has translated into consistently strong earnings performance. The last time Mastercard missed earnings was Q3 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; since then the company has delivered 21 consecutive quarterly earnings beats. Most recently, Mastercard reported Q4 2025 EPS of $4.76, a nearly 25% YOY increase. Analysts expect earnings to grow roughly 17% over the next year, from $15.91 to $18.61 per share. Mastercard is also shifting from a traditional payments network toward an AI-driven, software-focused company, emphasizing enhanced security, streamlined B2B transactions with virtual cards, and agentic AI tools. Icing the cake, Mastercard pays a dividend—modest in yield (about 0.69%) but consistent. The company has increased its payout for 13 consecutive years, maintains a sustainable dividend payout ratio of 21.07%, and sports an annualized five-year dividend growth rate of 13.70%. Visa: Evolving and Adapting Since 1958 Visa (NYSE: V) operates a network-based model that lets partner banks and financial institutions issue branded payment products while Visa concentrates on infrastructure, standards and technology integration. Like Mastercard, Visa is integrating fintech innovations, pursuing AI-driven solutions and exploring blockchain-based settlement, with the aim of moving from primarily card-based transactions to more flexible, digital-first experiences. That transition helped Visa report record revenue and net income in 2025: revenue reached $40 billion—an 11% YOY increase—and net income approached $20 billion. Where Mastercard's streak of earnings beats is notable, Visa has not missed on earnings in the past 10 years, meeting expectations twice and beating EPS estimates 38 times during that stretch. Much of Visa's consistency stems from its roughly 83% gross profit margin in 2025, in line with its 10-year average. Visa also offers a modest dividend, currently yielding about 0.87%. Its dividend payout ratio is a healthy 25.14%, the annualized five-year dividend growth rate is 14.48%, and the company has raised its payout for 17 consecutive years. | 
