2 Financial Stocks to Buy That Berkshire Hathaway Kept While Selling Visa and Mastercard

American Express reported Q2 2026 revenue of $19.6 billion, up 10% year over year, card-member spending growth of 9%, and EPS of $4.53, up 11%; it raised its full-year revenue growth outlook to 10%. Moody’s Q2 2026 revenue rose 15% to $2.2 billion, with growth in ratings and analytics. Berkshire holds a 22% stake in American Express and approximately 24.7 million Moody’s shares, or nearly 14% of the company.

Analysis

The key distinction is business-model exposure, not Buffett endorsement. American Express combines a premium customer franchise with lending: stronger spending and fee retention can support revenue, but a downturn can hit both transaction activity and credit costs at once. Affluent positioning may cushion losses, not eliminate them. The near-term read-through is therefore less about headline spend growth than delinquencies, net write-offs, provisions, funding costs, and whether premium benefits remain valuable enough to defend fee levels. Visa and Mastercard are not clean shorts on Berkshire’s exits: their network economics carry less direct consumer-credit exposure, and portfolio sales alone do not establish a change in competitive outlook.

Moody’s has a different sensitivity. Its ratings franchise benefits from entrenched market acceptance, while ratings revenue remains exposed to the volume and mix of debt issuance, refinancing, and M&A. Analytics may dampen that cycle, but cannot fully offset a prolonged issuance slowdown. S&P Global is both the closest competitive benchmark and a useful check on whether the ratings opportunity is sector-wide rather than Moody’s-specific. Over 6–18 months, regulatory scrutiny or changes in issuer demand could challenge the durability of ratings economics.

The article’s bullish framing underweights cyclical and credit risks and gives no valuation or credit-quality evidence. Berkshire’s holdings are not a timing signal; reported ownership and portfolio changes should be independently verified before attributing intent.

Key Decisions for Investors

• No trade from Berkshire’s Visa/Mastercard exits alone. Do not infer a negative fundamental view on V or MA without evidence of transaction-share loss, pricing pressure, or weaker guidance.
• AXP: treat as a quality franchise with a more two-sided cycle than payment networks. Consider staged exposure only if valuation and current credit data support it; verify delinquencies, net write-offs, provisions, and funding costs. Thesis weakens materially if credit costs rise while spending or fee growth decelerates.
• MCO: monitor debt issuance, refinancing, and M&A as 1–3 month catalysts; compare ratings growth and guidance with S&P Global to separate company execution from the issuance cycle. Avoid chasing a strong print without checking forward issuance assumptions.
• Before acting, verify the cited quarter and guidance against filings and current market pricing; neither supplied data nor the article provides valuation, credit-quality detail, or consensus expectations needed for a price target or high-conviction relative-value trade.