5 Best Stocks to Buy for Financial Independence

In this article, we discuss the 5 best stocks to buy for financial independence. If you want to read our detailed analysis of these companies, go directly to the 10 Best Stocks to Buy for Financial Independence.

5. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 154      

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) is a New York-based financial services company founded in 1966. It is ranked fifth on our list of 10 best stocks to buy for financial independence. Mastercard stock has returned more than 26% to investors over the course of the past twelve months. The firm is most famous for payment-related products but also markets services such as cyber and intelligence solutions, information and analytics services, consulting services, loyalty and reward programs, as well as open banking services, among others. 

On April 29, Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) posted earnings for the first quarter of 2021, reporting a revenue of more than $4.2 billion and earnings per share of $.174. The EPS beat market predictions by $0.18.

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Virginia-based investment firm Akre Capital Management is a leading shareholder in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) with 5.8 million shares worth more than $2 billion. 

In its Q4 2020 investor letter, Bretton Fund, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“While consumers resumed much of their spending by summer, what and how they used their Visas and Mastercards changed. For obvious reasons, people shifted to contactless payments—one of the Covid-era changes we think is permanent—and replaced travel purchases with online shopping and food delivery. Consumers spent more on their debit cards and less on their credit cards; Visa and Mastercard make more per transaction on the latter. They also make more on cross-border transactions that come mostly from international travel, which ground to a halt early in the pandemic. Visa’s and Mastercard’s earnings per share fell by 7% and 16%, respectively, compared to their usual mid-teens growth. We’re not too worried, and we think they’ll catch up nicely in the post-vaccine world. Visa’s stock returned 17.1% and Mastercard’s 20.2%.”