Visa Inc. (V) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: Visa Inc.

Updated on October 28, 2026 · accounts published on October 27, 2026

Reading of October 27, 2026: A highly profitable, growing business with exceptional margins and strong cash conversion

Visa trades at a P/E of 34.2 over the last 12 months, 162 % above its sector median and 3 % below its own ten-year median of 35.4.

• Is Visa expensive or cheap? Visa's P/E of 34.2 is 162 % above its sector median and 3 % below its own ten-year median of 35.4.
• How is the business doing? Revenue grew 15 % over the last 12 months, with a 61 % operating margin against a 63 % average for 2014-2025.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Debt to equity is 0.68 over the last 12 months, above the 0.5 prudence line, while the dividend has risen 11 years in a row.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Analysts expect EPS of $3.63 when Visa reports on February 4, 2027; it has beaten estimates in 8 of the last 8 quarters.
• Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business? Visa passes four of five sector health tests; only its debt to equity of 0.68 misses the 0.5 prudence line.

Is Visa expensive or cheap?

Over the last 12 months Visa trades at a P/E of 34.2. The median for 324 financial-services companies is 13.0, so Visa costs 162 % more. Its own history looks calmer. The ten-year median is 35.4, the decade's range ran from 25.1 to 51.6, and the stock has traded at a lower P/E only 37 % of the time in the last decade. The free cash flow yield is 3.4 % and the earnings yield 3.1 %. The five-year average P/E is 30.9, and today's multiple is just above 110 % of it, the line this sector treats as expensive. The market is already paying for the quality to continue.

How is the business doing?

Visa's revenue rose 15 % year over year over the last 12 months, and revenue per share compounded at 15 % a year between fiscal 2020 and 2025. Its margins are exceptional by any measure. Over the last 12 months the operating margin is 61 % and the net margin 51 %. They are slightly softer than in the past: the operating margin averaged 63 % over fiscal 2014-2025 and came in at 60 % in fiscal 2025. Over the last 12 months ROE is 61 %, which shows how little capital the business needs to keep growing.

How strong is the balance sheet?

Debt to equity stands at 0.68 over the last 12 months. That is above the 0.5 this sector treats as prudent, so Visa carries more leverage than the benchmark. The cash flow supports it. In fiscal 2025 free cash flow equalled 108 % of net income, above the 90 % healthy threshold, so reported profit turns into real cash. Shareholder returns come more from growth than from income. Over the last 12 months the dividend yield is 0.7 %. The payout was 23 % of earnings in fiscal 2025, and the dividend per share has risen for 11 fiscal years in a row, which leaves plenty of room to keep raising it.

What to expect from the next earnings?

On October 27, 2026 Visa reported EPS of $3.48 against $3.43 expected, a 1.5 % beat, and it has beaten the EPS estimate in each of the last 8 quarters. The next report is due on February 4, 2027, and consensus is $3.63 per share. Expectations for 2027 are stable. Over the last 30 days the EPS consensus from 25 analysts moved only from $15.02 to $15.04, and the revenue estimate barely changed. Of the 62 analysts who cover Visa, 53 rate it a buy, 9 a hold and none a sell. The bar is high and steady, and a long beat streak is now the expectation rather than a surprise.

Is it a scalable, lightly leveraged business?

Financial-services companies that are not banks, such as asset managers, brokers, fintech and exchanges, have no loan books or capital ratios to judge. The test is revenue growth, fee economics and cash quality. On scale Visa clears the bar easily. Revenue per share grew 15 % a year over fiscal 2020-2025 against a 6 % healthy threshold. The fiscal 2025 operating margin of 60 % is double the 30 % benchmark, and ROE of 61 % over the last 12 months is four times the 15 % line. On leverage the answer is less clean, because debt to equity of 0.68 is above the 0.5 limit.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.