The financial sector took the brunt of the market’s volatility, with bank stocks falling sharply today and the XLF Financial Select Sector ETF down more than 1%.

With financial companies falling, investors may be keeping an eye on shares of American Express AXP, Visa V and Mastercard MA to determine if a better opportunity to buy shares of these credit card and transaction services giants might present itself.

With all three stocks down more than 1% today, whether the recent volatility in the market has actually created a better opportunity and whether now is a good time to buy.

Despite the recent pullback, Mastercard and Visa stocks are still up +30% and +23%, respectively, outperforming the S&P 500 Index by +13% and easily outperforming the virtually unchanged year-to-date performance of American Express stock.

However, over the past three years, American Express’ +45% dividend-adjusted total return outperforms Mastercard’s +16% and Visa’s +15%, and outperforms the benchmark.