Should You Be Bullish on Visa (V)?
Wedgewood Partners, an investment management company, released its first-quarter 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Wedgewood Composite delivered a net return of 9.4% in the second quarter compared to 15.2% for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, 16.7% for the Russell 1000 Growth Index, and 13.9% for the Russell 1000 Value Index. The firm is optimistic about the long-term growth of hyperscalers and has increased its investments in this sector, citing their significant earnings potential and crucial role in AI adoption. Capital has also been redirected towards technology hardware stocks, especially semiconductors, which now make up a larger share of the S&P 500 Index. Semiconductor stocks have benefited from hyperscalers' spending, but the firm expresses caution about cyclical risk and volatility. However, the momentum-driven market negatively affected the Wedgewood fund's high-quality stocks, leading to a 25% return over the past 15 months, significantly underperforming the 90% gain of the S&P 500 Momentum ETF (SPMO). In addition, please check the Fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.
In its Q2 2026 investor letter, Wedgewood Partners highlighted Visa Inc. (NYSE:V). Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a multinational financial services company known for its payment technology network that offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products and other services. On July 16, 2026, Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) closed at $365.14 per share. One-month return of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was 9.51%, and its shares gained 2.67% over the past 52 weeks. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has a market capitalization of $687.97 billion.
Wedgewood Partners stated the following regarding Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) in its Q2 2026 investor update:
"Top performance contributors for the second quarter include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Alphabet, United Rentals, Apple, and Visa Inc. (NYSE:V).
Visa contributed to quarterly performance, reporting accelerating revenue growth of 17%, driven by 11% growth in payment volumes and 21% growth in cross-border volume. Value added services also grew 25% and now represent almost one-third of the Company's total revenue. Agentic commerce remains nascent but could represent a new addressable market for Visa as the Company tracks and helps autonomous AI agents perform microtransactions. This contrasts with just a few quarters ago, when the market was fretting about the risks agentic commerce could pose. We think Visa's global scale, including acceptance at over 130 million merchants, and deep integration with almost 15,000 financial institutions make it a valuable partner for agentic commerce startups."
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) ranks 9th on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. According to our database, 181 hedge fund portfolios held Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 184 in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Visa Inc.'s (NYSE:V) net revenue grew 17% year-over-year to $11.2 billion and EPS increased 20%. While we acknowledge the potential of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
In another article, we covered Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and shared the list of most promising fintech stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.