Since its initial public offering (IPO) in March 2008 amid the chaos of the Great Financial Crisis, Visa (NYSE: V) stock has absolutely clobbered average market returns. Visa's total return (which accounts for reinvested dividends) has been over 1,700% compared to only about 340% for the S 500 (as measured by the SPDR S 500 ETF Trust).

Visa has gotten massive lift out of the move from physical cash to the digital exchange of money. Riding a huge secular growth trend such as this certainly helps with investment returns. However, there's more to the story, as few digital payments and fintech investments have done nearly as well. Visa has proven itself as a great allocator of capital for a long time, and that's been the secret to the stock's success.

As calculated by investment researcher New Constructs, Visa's ROIC (return on invested capital) has been exceptionally good for years. New Constructs calculates ROIC as NOPAT (net operating profit after tax) divided by average invested capital.

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Source Fool.com