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Further Reading from MarketBeat Why Mastercard and Visa Are the Definition of Forever StocksAuthor: Jordan Chussler. Article 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. But looking longer term, many companies in the sector remain core holdings for buy-and-hold investors. While investors focused on trade war headlines and inflation data, hundreds of billions of dollars were quietly being rerouted into the American technology sector - driven by policy, geopolitics, and an arms race that shows no signs of slowing. Thirty-year market veteran Chris Rowe says the wealthy are already positioned, and most investors won't recognize the shift until it's too late to act on it. Watch Chris Rowe's full presentation before it comes down As high-quality growth stocks become harder to find, two legacy companies in global payment processing and digital payments continue to deliver profit margins and business characteristics that qualify them as long-term, "forever" stocks. Why Digital Payment and Payment Processors Make for Good Forever Stocks These companies typically enjoy higher profit margins than most industries because they operate on high-volume, automated, technology-driven platforms with low marginal costs per transaction. The industry also has strong growth potential. 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 by the start of the next decade. Grand View also expects the digital payment market, valued at more than $114 billion in 2024, to expand at a 21.4% CAGR through 2030 to more than $361 billion. That growth, together with attractive gross margins, might suggest heavy competition, but two of the largest firms operate in something close to a duopoly, controlling over 90% of credit card and digital payments processed outside of China. With roots stretching back to the mid-1900s, they own the infrastructure that enables them to set fees, limit competition and preserve strong margins. Companies such as Block (NYSE: SQ), with its peer-to-peer service Cash App, and PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), with Venmo, pursue disruptive strategies. Still, when it comes to durable, high-quality holdings, few fit the "forever stock" description better than the two below. 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, streamline payment flows and extract insights from payments data. Those efforts helped Mastercard post record revenue and net income in 2025. Revenue of nearly $33 billion represented a year-over-year increase of more than 16%, while net income of roughly $15 billion also rose by over 16%. That profitability was driven in large part by a 100% gross margin in 2025, a result of tech integrations and a minimal cost of goods sold that left quarterly gross profit essentially matching quarterly net revenue. For investors, that 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 recorded 21 consecutive quarterly earnings beats. Most recently, Mastercard reported Q4 2025 EPS of $4.76, a near 25% year-over-year increase. Analysts expect earnings to rise roughly 17% in the year ahead, from $15.91 to $18.61 per share. Mastercard has also been shifting from a traditional payment network toward an AI-driven, software-oriented company focused on enhanced security, simplified B2B transactions with virtual cards and agentic AI tools. Mastercard pays a modest dividend (currently about 0.69%) that has increased for 13 consecutive years. The company maintains a sustainable payout ratio of 21.07% and an annualized five-year dividend growth rate of 13.70%. Visa: Evolving and Adapting Since 1958 Visa (NYSE: V) operates a network model that lets partner banks issue branded payment products while Visa focuses on infrastructure, standards and technology integration. Like Mastercard, Visa is integrating fintech innovations—emphasizing AI-driven solutions and blockchain-based settlement—with the goal of moving from traditional card transactions to more flexible, digital-first experiences by 2026. That strategy helped Visa report record revenue and net income in 2025: revenue of $40 billion (an 11% year-over-year increase) and net income approaching $20 billion. Visa's consistency on the numbers is notable: it hasn't missed an earnings estimate in the past 10 years, meeting expectations twice and beating EPS estimates 38 times during that span. Much of the stability comes from its high gross profit margin—nearly 83% in 2025—which aligns with the company's 10-year average. Visa also pays a modest dividend, currently yielding about 0.87%. Its payout ratio is a healthy 25.14%, the annualized five-year dividend growth rate is 14.48%, and the company has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years. | 
