Billionaire Chris Hohn’s Top 5 Stock Picks

In this article, we discuss Billionaire Christopher Hohn’s top 5 stock picks. For Hohn’s comments on Alpha generation and his investment philosophy, read Billionaire Chris Hohn’s Top 10 Stock Picks.

5. Visa Inc. (NYSE: V)

Visa Inc. ranks 5th in our list of Chris Hohn’s top 10 stock picks. In fiscal first quarter, Visa’s payments volume and processed transactions grew on the back of ecommerce and spending growth.  EPS in the period came in at $1.42, versus the consensus of $1.27. Revenue in the quarter was $5.69 billion, versus the Street’s forecast of $5.52 billion.

According to our database, the number of Visa’s long hedge funds positions increased at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. 166 funds hold a Visa Inc position compared to 160 funds in the third quarter. The company’s most significant stakeholder is Fisher Asset Management, with 22.2 million shares worth $4.9 billion.

In their Q3 2020 Investor Letter, Qualivian Investment Partners highlighted a few stocks, and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is one of them.

Here is what Qualivian Investment Partners said:

“Visa: was a positive contributor in the quarter, just less so than our other holdings. Visa’s fiscal Q4 quarter (calendar Q3) results were better-than-expected as revenue and EPS beat street expectations driven by stabilizing domestic transaction volumes and good expense control. Although results showed continued pressures from depressed crossborder volumes, which may continue for the foreseeable future as with MA, we believe the worst is behind us and our long-term thesis of V’s structural positioning on the other side of the pandemic remains intact. Looking to the back half of 2021 and going into 2022, we see a recovery in cross-border activity, which together with traditional spending improvements at the POS, leaves considerable room for upside upon reopening. Further, once the macro normalizes (medium term), we believe V (and MA) will continue to benefit from structural drivers including increased contactless payments, more eCommerce transactions, as well as a lift in the value-added services like fraud/gateway/marketing services, and demand for other flows such as B2B, G2C and use of Visa Direct. There is no credible competition on the horizon for the Visa/Mastercard payment networks.”