Analysts seem to keep underestimating both MasterCard and Visa. They have
repeatedly beat estimates over the past year. A lot of people have been worrying
about credit card defaults being the next wave to crush the market, but it
isn’t really hitting that hard. Also, it doesn’t seem to really affect MA
and V directly because they have mainly securitized much of the outstanding
accounts. While they may have more difficulty moving new balances off their
books, tighter lending standards should improve the quality of what they are
stuck with. We have MA rated a hold, however it does look fairly strong at this
price.