VA

Virgin America

Investing.com -- The risk environment took a turn on Friday after Israel carried out a large‑scale airstrike on Iran, sending equities lower and commodities such as gold and oil higher.

Investing.com -- Shares of Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) fell about 5% on Friday after the Wall Street Journal reported that retail giants Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) are thinking about issuing their own stablecoins, a move that could bypass traditional payment networks.

Investing.com -- Visa (NYSE:V) stock fell 5.4%, Mastercard (NYSE:MA) dropped 4.6%, and American Express (NYSE:AXP) declined 2% after a Wall Street Journal report revealed major retailers are exploring stablecoin options to bypass traditional card payment fees. Other payment processors also suffered, with Capital One (NYSE:COF) down 3%, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) falling 2.6%, and Block dropping 2.4%.

Investing.com -- Mizuho upgraded Visa Inc (NYSE:V) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its price target to $425 from $359, saying the shift from cash to cards in the U.S. still has a long runway and could support another decade of domestic growth.

Investing.com --Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA), and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) with In Line ratings, viewing the payments leaders as defensive plays in a volatile macro environment but noting valuation sensitivities and execution risks.Evercore sees Visa as a defensive stalwart, Mastercard is preferred on valuation while PayPal’s turnaround depends on execution.

Investing.com -- Monness, Crespi, Hardt downgraded shares of Fiserv (NYSE:FI) to Sell from Neutral and Mastercard (NYSE:MA) to Neutral from Buy on concerns over rich valuations, potential multiple contraction, and increasing sensitivity to slowing payment volume growth. Analyst sees rising risks to multiples as macro uncertainty grows.  

Investing.com -- Visa Inc shares were up 1.6% at $349 in the aftermarket trading after world's largest payments processor reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday that topped Wall Street expectations on by strong payments volume and a surge in cross-border transactions. It also provided an upbeat revenue outlook for the year.Visa (NYSE:V) posted earnings per share of $2.75, beating analysts' estimates of $2.66. Revenue rose to $9.51 billion, exceeding the consensus forecast of $9.35 billion.

Elsewhere on tech earnings front, International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) jumped nearly 13% hitting an all time high intraday after its Q4 results topped estimates, driven by a surging demand for AI.