MasterCard Inc. (MA: NYSE)
Shares of MasterCard climbed 4% on Thursday after the payments card company reported profit and revenue for its fourth quarter that topped estimates.
Net revenue climbed 20% driven by a 17% increase in switched transactions, 14% increase in gross dollar volume and cross-border volumes increase of 17%. New tax policies as well as a lower tax rate helped push net income up from a year ago.
Rival credit card company, Visa posted upbeat earnings and revenue on Wednesday but shares slipped after announcing slow cross-border growth rate. Over the past three months, Mastercard stock has added 3.2%, while the S&P 500 has declined 1.1%.
MA Earnings
Net income for the quarter ended Dec 31 totaled $900 million, or $0.87 per share, up from $200 million, or $0.21 per share last year.
Adjusted for one-time costs and gains, earnings per share grew to $1.55 from $1.44, in the year-earlier period. Analysts surveyed by Factset were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.52 per share.
Total sales rose to $3.8 billion from $3.3 billion in line with Wall Street estimates. Gross dollar volume climbed 14% while purchase volume increased 15% in the fourth quarter.
Full year net income was $5.86 billion, or $5.60 per share, up from $3.9 billion, or $3.65 per share from the previous fiscal year. Revenue rose to $15.0 billion from $12.5 billion in 2017.
Mastercard CEO Comments
Mastercard Chief Executive Ajay Banga commented, “We had a very strong end to the year, bringing 2018 to a record close, driven by broad-based growth across each of our regions.”
“These results reflect strong execution in growing our core business and driving new capabilities to improve the customer experience and enhance security across all transaction types. When you combine this with the strategic investments we’ve made for the long term, we are very well positioned for continued growth.”
MasterCard Inc. Profile
MasterCard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It facilitates the processing of payment transactions, including authorization, clearing, and settlement, as well as delivers related products and services.
In addition, it provides various integrated products and services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, governments, and other organizations; programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with cards to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid payment programs and management services; and commercial payment products and solutions.
It offers payment solutions and services under the MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus brands. Mastercard was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York. It competes with Visa, American Express and Western Union Co. – Yahoo Finance