Is Visa Stock Underperforming the S&P 500?

Visa Inc HQ photo-by Michael Vi via Shutterstock

Kritika Sarmah

Tue, February 24, 2026 at 9:18 PM GMT+9 2 min read

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•                                       StockStory Top Pick 
  

  V

  -0.61%

 ^GSPC  

 +0.56%  

San Francisco, California-based Visa Inc. (V) is a global payments technology company that facilitates digital transactions across more than 200 countries and territories through its secure processing network, VisaNet. With a market cap of $582.6 billion, the company offers a broad portfolio of products and services, including credit, debit, prepaid solutions, digital payment innovations, risk management, and data analytics.

Companies worth more than $200 billion are generally labeled as “mega-cap” stocks, and Visa fits this criterion perfectly. Its resilient business model, which relies on transaction processing fees rather than credit risk, provides stability across economic cycles. As digital payments continue to expand, Visa benefits from rising e-commerce adoption, contactless transactions, and fintech collaborations.

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The company has dipped 18.4% from its 52-week high of $375.51. Shares of Visa have decreased 6.5% over the past three months, lagging behind the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 3.6% gains.

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Visa stock is down 12.6% on a YTD basis, underperforming $SPX’s marginal loss. Moreover, shares of the global payment processor have plunged 12.1% over the past 52 weeks, trailing the index’s 13.7% over the same time frame.

V stock has been trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since mid-January, indicating a downtrend.

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On Feb. 23, Visa shares fell more than 4%, underperforming alongside other payment and delivery stocks after Citrini Research outlined a hypothetical AI-driven disruption scenario for the global economy. The note weighed on sentiment toward transaction-linked financial platforms, with investors rotating out of the group amid concerns that rapid AI adoption could reshape payment ecosystems and competitive dynamics.

In comparison, rival Mastercard Incorporated (MA) has lagged behind Visa stock. Shares of Mastercard have tanked 13.1% on a YTD basis and 11% over the past 52 weeks.

The stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” from 37 analysts’ coverage, and the mean price target of $402.31 is a premium of 31.3% to current levels.

_ On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com _

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