Fast Money Madness: Visa vs. Citigroup
Online Producer
The "Fast Money Madness" Round of 16 wrapped up Wednesday with the third-seeded Visa facing off against No. 7 seed Citigroup.
In earlier match-ups, ninth-seeded Transocean eliminated No. 4 General Electric, while No. 2 Honeywell trounced No. 11 Deere.
Also, No. 5 Morgan Stanley fell to top-seeded Bank of America.
(See the full "Fast Money Madness" bracket.)
No. 3 Visa vs. No. 7 Citigroup
StockMonster's Guy Adami hit the ground running.
"I think Visa can win the whole shebang," he said. "People are spending differently. They're not using cash anymore."
EmergingMoney.com's Tim Seymour squared off against Adami.
"Visa's last year's team," he said. "Look, Citi, No. 7 seed, playing on the away court, will pull an upset here and because of their away game. These guys are playing 55 percent outside of North America. This is still an emerging market bank. These guys have come to play this year. And meanwhile, the U.S. housing market does a lot of these guys at home. It's not even close."
Seymour also called Visa "expensive."
Josh Brown of Fusion Analytics sided with Visa, putting the credit card company ahead 2-1.
"Visa is a much better play on emerging markets than Citigroup is, and I've got to tell you, chartwise, it has not done what you think," he said. "Year to date, it's been consolidating, getting ready for the next leg higher."
Brown took issue with Citi's valuation.
"Citigroup's tangible book is a work of fiction," he said. "It is whatever they say it is on a quarter to quarter basis. Tangible book at Citigroup, are you serious?"
Shelter Harbor Capital's Brian Kelly backed Citigroup, making it a 2-2 tie.
"My problem with Visa is you have to rely on the consumer here," he said.
Citi could also gain global deposits if consumers begin to flee European banks, Kelly added.
The "Fast Money" Twitter followers tipped the balance in Visa's favor, putting it through to advance to the next round.
