Visa vs Mastercard - which stock to pick?

Many people asked me what is the advantage to choose Visa over Mastercard or vice versa.

I own both companies and I strongly believe these are two of the most resilient businesses in the world with widest moat. Nevertheless, this is a comparison post and I hope that when you finish reading you will be able to understand the difference.

Visa is obviously the bigger business with higher revenue. They are bigger on debit cards and total number of cards issued. Their revenue for 2025 was $40b, growing 11% YoY.

Visa revenue chart - stockpicker.tech

Visa Fundamentals https://www.stockpicker.tech/user/dashboard/V

Mastercard is growing faster. They are focusing more on credit cards, international markets and high-yield cross-border transactions. They are becoming more reliant on Value added services(cyber security, data analysis, consulting), which already accounts to almost 40% of their total revenue. Revenue for 2025 was $32.78b, 16% growth YoY

Mastercard Revenue chart - stockpicker.tech

Mastercard fundamentals: https://www.stockpicker.tech/user/dashboard/MA

Visa has the higher margins. They have a bigger scale and their net margin for last quarter wa 53%. They are facing regulatory scrutiny and also, they are paying high incentives to banks. Yet, their margin is still higher.

Visa net margin - stockpicker.tech

Mastercard's net margin grew to 46.1% last quarter. It is important to mention that their VAS business segment is growing faster than Visa's - 23% to 20% YoY.

Mastercard net margin chart - stockpicker.tech

In general, Visa offers more stability and higher margins, while Mastercard offers higher growth. As I mentioned, I hold shares of both companies, so my opinion is biased. Also, I am not a financial advisor, just a retail investor.

Compare other fundamental metrics with Stockpicker terminal:

Visa Fundamentals https://www.stockpicker.tech/user/dashboard/V

Mastercard fundamentals: https://www.stockpicker.tech/user/dashboard/MA