Visa Profit Surges 17% as Consumer Card Spending Climbs

(Bloomberg) -- Visa Inc. reported a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street predictions as US credit-card spending climbed.

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Adjusted net income for the fiscal second quarter rose 17% to $5.1 billion, or $2.51 a share, Visa said Tuesday in a statement. That was 7 cents more than the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

In the US, where Visa gets more than 40% of its revenue, credit-card spending grew 6.2% from a year earlier. Worldwide payments volume climbed 8% and total processed transactions rose 11%.

“We remain focused on the trillions of dollars of opportunity in consumer payments and new flows and on continuing to deepen our partnerships with clients around the world,” Chief Executive Officer Ryan McInerney said in the statement.

Visa forecast net revenue growth for the current quarter in the low double-digit range. Its full-year forecast remains unchanged.

Shares of San Francisco-based Visa rose 3.2% to $282.80 in extended trading at 4:44 p.m. in New York. The stock had climbed 5.3% this year through the close of regular trading.

In March, Visa and smaller rival Mastercard Inc. agreed to cap swipe fees and allow US merchants to charge consumers extra for using credit cards — a deal that retailers said would save them at least $30 billion over five years. The pact, one of the most significant antitrust settlements ever, followed a legal fight spanning almost two decades and remains subject to court approval.

The bulk of those fees, also known as interchange, are passed on to card-issuing banks that use the revenue in part to fund customer rewards programs.

Read More: Visa, Mastercard Reach $30 Billion Deal With US Retailers

Other second-quarter highlights:

• Revenue climbed 10% from a year prior to $8.8 billion, exceeding Wall Street estimates

• Operating expense increased 29% to $3.4 billion, more than the $2.89 billion average estimate of analysts in the Bloomberg survey

(Updates with revenue forecast in fifth paragraph, share price in sixth.)

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