Would you like to pay by Card or Cash or Cheque? When Dr Tee was still a university student about 30 years ago in US, this was the common question asked at that time. During university time, as a student without income, I was “given” or mail directly to home, a few credit cards each year (the T&C was to use it to activate, else just discard it to reject). Until today, the question is still about the same but having more choices for electronic payment.

With increasing cashless and credit payment over the decades, both credit card companies and banks (issuers of credit cards) can make a lot of profits with fees paid by merchants. At the same time, consumers are tempted to purchase more (pay later, sometimes with discount), therefore merchants could gain back the “losses” of fees paid to credit company.

So, technically, the more one spends, the more everyone gains, until one day, when there is a credit crisis (eg. during global financial crisis: dotcom bubble after year 2000, subprime crisis in 2008-2009), then when consumers spend less, then the lower gains (not even loss) to the credit card industry, would induce a crisis in credit card company share prices.

Here are 4 credit card giant stocks with strong business fundamental behind each of them which requires 2 main investing strategies, cyclic investing or growth investing:

1-2) Visa (NYSE: V) & MasterCard (NYSE: MA)

Visa or MasterCard? This is the question asked 30 years ago, still asked today, could be 30 years later by most merchants for payment. This is a duopoly, dominating the credit card industry for decades. They have a wide global network of payment which is a strong economic moat, younger competitors are hard to get nearer.

For both Visa and Mastercard, the share prices has gone up about 20 times (yes, 2000% profit) over the last decade since recovery from the last financial crisis. Visa is relatively more defensive than Mastercard.

Both credit card companies are more suitable for growth investing strategy (Buy & Hold), buy low during global financial crisis and hold for long term capital gains. Even for short term, sometimes they are suitable for momentum trading (Buy & Hold for a period of time, eg weeks or months), but more suitable for bullish stock market with strong uptrend (Buy High, Sell Higher)

3) American Express (NYSE: AXP)

Technically, American Express (AMEX) is not a credit card (a charge card instead). For convenience, we group it under credit card stock for comparison. AMEX is more costly to merchants (higher fee), therefore the coverage is not as wide as Visa or Mastercard.

AMEX is considered a relatively weaker (among 4) credit card giant stock, growth is slower. It is more suitable for cyclic investing strategy (Buy Low Sell High), share price has gone up about 10 times over the past decade since global financial crisis.

4) Discover Card (NYSE: DFS)

Discover Card is still considered a “young” credit card, despite Dr Tee has used it about 30 years ago when I was still a student in US. I like Discover card 30 years ago as I remember it could give about 2% cash rebate which was a new idea at that time (getting cash back by spending) but now very common in many other credit cards.

Discover card is listed under Discover Financial Services (DFS.NYSE). It is a giant credit card stock with strong fundamental but more suitable for cyclic investing (Buy Low Sell High), share price has gone up about 10 times over the past decade since global financial crisis.

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Warren Buffett also has 3 credit card companies shares (AMEX, Visa, Mastercard) under his stock investment portfolio. When others in the world are spending money, these credit companies including Warren Buffett are making money around the clock, every second.

As a retail investor, you may not have the capital as Warren Buffett to buy so many stocks. Therefore, we need to be selective in stocks for investment. You can start your investment journey to establish a dream team portfolio of 10 best stocks in 10 promising sectors / countries, leveraging on the next global financial crisis to buy low, either sell high or hold long term in future.

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