Visa (V) is only the second stock I've ever owned - I typically stick to the realm of Mutual Funds. The frist was EMC (EMC) and my obsessive compulsive nature made me check the stock so much that I sold out somewhere in the 23s. While I'm glad I did that, I'm much happier holding Visa. The only real thing that people can say in the negative for Visa is that it 1) has no proven history and 2) IPOs aren't good especially right now. To the second point, you are correct except in the case that the company is proven already - and I think this is the case. There is some validaity to this argument though. The first issue gets a response of "Past performance should not be used as an indicator of future earngs/price points".
I'm a cheap enough guy that I'm emotionally satisified as soon as I make back my fee for the purchase, but hold out hopes for, as Will Farrel said it best in Blades of Glory, "the smell of sweet gold". Mom always said it was good to hope...
