Pershing Square Initiates Positions in Visa and Mastercard

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Pershing Square Initiates Positions in Visa and Mastercard

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In the second quarter of 2026, Pershing Square, the investment firm led by Bill Ackman, established new equity positions in payment processing giants Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA). This move was part of a broader portfolio adjustment that saw the firm add six new stocks, including Netflix, S&P Global, Intercontinental Exchange, and Alcon.

According to Pershing Square’s H1 2026 letter to shareholders, Visa and Mastercard are considered “among the highest-quality businesses in the world.” The firm characterized them as “capital-light ‘toll-takers'” that generate a nominal fee on each transaction without significant risk, making them natural beneficiaries of higher inflation. Pershing Square anticipates that both companies will deliver attractive returns for years to come, projecting a multi-year period of double-digit revenue growth, low-to-mid-teens operating income growth, and mid-to-high-teens earnings per share (EPS) growth.

The investment thesis highlights that these networks connect billions of consumers with millions of merchants globally. Visa and Mastercard reportedly receive approximately 20 basis points of a typical transaction. The firm also noted that card volumes still represent about half of global addressable consumer spending, suggesting a substantial opportunity for continued growth as electronic payments gain traction over traditional methods and e-commerce expands. Value-added services, such as fraud tools and business insights, are also a significant growth driver, accounting for roughly 30% of Visa’s revenues and 40% of Mastercard’s, and are growing at two to three times the rate of their core payments businesses.

Pershing Square initiated these positions when the card networks’ valuations had de-rated to approximately 22 times next twelve months’ earnings. Bill Ackman indicated that these purchases were made during a period of market dislocation in the first half of 2026, allowing the firm to acquire shares at prices believed to be below their intrinsic value.

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