William Blair analysts forecast ‘slingshot recovery’ for Visa amid stablecoin tailwinds

Analysts at William Blair, specifically Andrew Jeffrey and Cristopher Kennedy, believe Visa's recent subdued stock performance is set for a major turnaround, forecasting a "slingshot recovery." This optimism is largely fueled by the growing tailwinds from stablecoin integration into Visa's payment ecosystem. CEO Ryan McInerney confirmed plans to support four stablecoins across four blockchains, noting that stablecoin-linked card spend quadrupled year-over-year. The analysts see the primary opportunity for stablecoins not in domestic B2C payments, where bank cards are already dominant, but in cross-border B2B commerce, where stablecoins can significantly lower costs and speed up settlement compared to traditional correspondent banking. Despite cross-border transactions being less than 15% of Visa's volume, the firm is well-positioned to capture this growing digital payment rail share. William Blair views this stablecoin momentum as an evolution of Visa's role, projecting it will complement core businesses and make its year-to-date laggard status unsustainable, reiterating an 'outperform' rating with projected 15%-plus 12-month upside.

(Source：The Block)