Quiet Period Ends: Visa Analysts Unleash The Hounds (V)

The quiet period has ended for Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) after its IPO.  The underwriters have thus initiated their coverage ratings this morning on the credit card payment processing company.  Shares of Visa have risen by about 40% since its IPO.

These are not yet all of the calls that will be out this morning, but these are the coverage initiations seen so far early this Monday morning:

• SunTrust Robinson Humphrey at Buy;
• Goldman Sachs at Buy with $90 target;
• UBS at Buy;
• JPMorgan at Overweight;
• Citigroup at Hold with $78 target;
• Credit Suisse at Neutral;
• Morgan Stanley at Equal-Weight with $75 target;

Prior to the quiet period ending, some brokerage firms were able to initiate coverage in the prior weeks ahead of the underwriters:

• Keefe Bruyette Woods at Outperform;
• Cowen & Co at Outperform;
• Deutsche Bank at Buy;
• Stifel Nicolaus at Buy.

Visa is also set to report earnings today, and a conference call will be held at 5:00 PM EST.

Jon C. Ogg
April 28, 2008