Visa Inc. says its profit climbed 11 per cent in its fiscal third quarter versus a year earlier, aided by solid growth in payments volume, service revenue and transactions.
The payments processor's latest financial results beat or matched Wall Street expectations, but the company reduced its earnings outlook for the year. CEO Charlie Scharf noted issues including a stronger US dollar and slow growth in international transactions.
Visa shares slumped 3.4 per cent in after-market trading.
Foster City, California-based Visa is the world's largest processor of debit and credit card payments. As such, it benefits from heightened consumer spending, and its results are closely watched because they can be a window into the buying habits and financial health of consumers.
Of that, $US748 billion came from US transactions, a gain of about 9 per cent.
Visa's transactions growth echoes data that show increased spending by consumers in recent months as unemployment declines.
Employers are hiring at a healthy pace, knocking the unemployment rate down to 6.1 per cent, the lowest in nearly six years. That makes Americans more confident to spend. Consumer spending at retail stores picked up an average of 0.5 per cent in the April-June quarter after a severe winter weighed on sales earlier this year.
All told, Visa reported that its profit increased to $US1.36 billion, or $2.17 per share, from $US1.23 billion, or $1.88 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. The average per-share estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.09.
Revenue rose 5.1 per cent to $US3.16 billion from $US3 billion in the same quarter a year earlier, matching Wall Street's forecasts.
Visa shares ended regular trading up $1.54 at $222.74. The stock slid $7.49 to $215.25 in extended trading.
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