By Sam Boughedda
UBS analysts raised the firm's price target on Visa (NYSE:V) to $294 from $293 and on MasterCard (NYSE:MA) to $443 from $441 in a note Wednesday, maintaining both as top ideas.
In the note focused on the first quarter and CY23 earnings outlook, they said Visa and Mastercard results should continue to reflect stable consumer spending trends and sustained cross-border travel momentum.
"Data points across various sources, including Visa’s intra-quarter volume update, Mastercard’s Spending Pulse and Fiserv’s SpendTrend data display consumer spending remained resilient through 1Q/23, while travel statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Trade Administration (ITA) indicate cross-border travel recovery continued to progress nicely through February, driven by outsized growth from the Asia-Pacific region," the analysts wrote.
"The ongoing cross-border travel recovery could represent a source of revenue and EPS upside for Visa and Mastercard, in our view, given the premium network fees earned on such transactions," they added.
Visa will post earnings for its latest quarter after the close on April 25, while Mastercard will release its results before the market opens on April 27.