VISA's upcoming IPO. Is anyone buying in on this?

[brig2221]

I have been reading a lot in regards to Visa's upcoming IPO, set to be the largest in history.

I have researching as much as I can on this as I am interested in possibly picking up a large amount of this stock when it become available to us wee peasants.

Traditionally, IPO's have done well for the most part, with some notable exceptions, again, at least from what I remember of the past several years.

VISA is virtually a monopoly with over 60% market share, so I can't help to think that this thing is going to go up. If you look at Mastercards IPO, it apparently has gone up over 400% since it's inception.

Is anyone else looking to get into this, and if so, why? Also, does anyone out there have experience with purchasing IPO stocks? Thanks!

[Kedi]

I would most definitely be interested.
How do we go about makiing a purchase?
Is there a website?

[BTC]

I'm looking into it. When did Mastercard go public?

[sweeps]

I think it will fizzle just like Google's IPO did. Oh, wait....

[BTC]

I beat myself up every day for not buying Google. Heck, Google might even be cheap right now. It's down below 500 bucks today.

[InDebtInDC]

Also, does anyone out there have experience with purchasing IPO stocks?

Quick primer on IPO valuation. At the time of the IPO, you want to estimate how much the company is currently worth on paper. This information can be found on their SEC filing.

Then you project how well they're going to do in the future from now until the time they go out of business. Discount the future profits/losses for time and add up with the current value.

Divide the total value by the weighted number of shares = estimated share price.

Compare the estimated share price with the asking price to determine if the share is overvalued or undervalue, or at fair price.


As you can see, the hard part is determining how they're going to do in the future. Your guess is as good as anybody's.

Also keep in mind that whatever firm is taking them public takes a portion of the share price as commission (unless they go straight to the public) so the asking price will be inflated slightly.

The rest depends on how good you think they will do in the future.

[Kedi]

if you go to Free SEC Filing Email Alerts and RSS Feeds - SECFilings.com
you can signup (free) asks only email addy & create password
you can search Visa Inc for IPO and see what is going on
and set up alerts to be notified

preliminary prospectus was filed 2/25/2008 at 6:32:56
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.

Title of Each Class of Securities to be Registered:
Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share

Amount to be Registered(1): 446,600,000 shares

Proposed Maximum Offering Price Per Share: $42.00

I need to figure how to purchase some shares @ $42 per share
I can't do it through AIG Valic that I have through work
and I don't want to pay someone to do this for me

[jodi]

I just read the news this morning and mentioned it to DH. Definitely worth considering.

DH toyed with buying Google way back...but held off. He recently bought a few shares at over $600...DOH! Had I known then what I know now...

[Kedi]

FYI - confirmed with Sharebuilder they will NOT have Visa IPO available
Does anyone know of any place where we will be able to purchase?

[Thrif-t]

Boy I just read about this in the paper and I think it said that it would be made public on March 19th...I need to go find that article.

I too missed out on Google. I knew I should've bought it but dang 3 kids under 5 at the time, I never got around to it, drat

[brig2221]

I think the consensus here is that a lot of us are interested in purchasing this IPO as it becomes available to the general public, but don't know how.

As far as I know, like all things in life, the mega investors will get their opportunity to purchase shares first before it officially publicly trades on the exchange, and then everyone else buys afterwards. In other words, they get to buy it first, and cheaper.

I know I am not a mega investor, so I will have to wait like everyone else. That said, does anyone know exactly what you would need to do in order to execute purchases of this stock as soon as possible after it is listed?

Surely there has to be some Google IPO buyers in here that have done this.

[jc3900]

I don't know about buying in on Visa. I havn't read to much about the situation, but my dad read an article and he said that they might be making an IPO to give the banks more capital right now after suffering big losses in this past year.

[Thrif-t]

brig2221 I have a Scottrade Account and sent them an email asking if I could buy shares thru them and this is the reply I got:

Thank you for your e-mail. You may purchase a security that had a recent IPO (Initial Public Offering) at Scottrade after that security begins trading on the secondary market. Scottrade does not offer access to the actual IPO shares.

Prior to the market open on the first day of trading, such orders must be called in to your local Scottrade office and placed through a broker.
These orders will be processed at the standard online commission rate ($7.00 per trade). Due to the inherent volatility of an IPO, only limit orders will be accepted until after the stock begins actual trading.
Once the stock begins trading, a market order can be accepted and orders can be entered online.

Scottrade is not an underwriter for any IPO; therefore, we do not have access to shares before they begin trading on the open market.

For more information about IPO releases, click the 'Quotes & Research'
and then 'Calendar' under the 'Markets' section. Click on the 'Initial Public Offerings' tab to view additional information about upcoming and recent IPOs.

So that means I can't buy in till the second day right? I'm kinda confused. Thanks

[vladinati]

oh yes, this will be definitely a hot stock to own

[safari]

Fidelity offers their select customers ability to participate in IPO, but unfortunately not many will qualify.

Eligibility

Eligibility Participation in traditional IPOs, and other equity public offerings through Fidelity is reserved for brokerage customers with a minimum of $500,000. Auction OpenIPOs and Secondary offerings made available through Fidelity are reserved for brokerage customers with a minimum of $100,000 in certain assets held at Fidelity. Members of Premium Services or customers who have placed 36 or more stock, fixed income, or option trades in a rolling 12-month period are eligible for either traditional or auction based offerings. The $500,000 or $100,000 requirement and 36 trade thresholds will be determined weekly by aggregating all assets and trades in retail accounts which list the same name and Social Security number and are maintained by Fidelity Service Company, Inc. or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (excluding assets or trades maintained on behalf of any divisions of Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, such as 401(k) or 403(b) plan assets). Other assets may be included in the calculation at our discretion. In addition, an account in which an indication of interest is entered must have at least $2,000 in cash or fully paid securities.