By Pritam Biswas
(Reuters) -Visa beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the world’s largest payment processor benefited from a steady rise in card payment volumes and the company unveiled a $30 billion share repurchase plan.
Payments volume — a gauge of overall consumer and business spending on Visa’s network — jumped 8% in the second quarter, while revenue rose 9% to $9.6 billion.
U.S. consumer spending remained resilient during the period on strong wage growth and low unemployment rates but tariff-related inflationary expectations and growth worries have now weighed on consumer sentiment.
“While we are certainly not immune to macroeconomic impacts, our incredibly diverse business model has proven to be resilient in the face of a variety of environments, most recently in second-quarter, and we see this resilience playing out in our financial outlook,” CEO Ryan Mclnerney said in a call.
American Express , which generally caters to affluent customers, also beat estimates for profit earlier in the month. Mastercard is set to report its quarterly earnings later in the week.
Visa’s shares were up 1% in trading after the bell. They have climbed more than 8% so far this year, outperforming Mastercard’s 2.5% gain and American Express’ 10% decline.
Visa also strengthened its annual net revenue growth forecast to low double-digit from high single-digits to low double-digits expectation earlier. The Street was expecting a 10% growth, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company’s fresh repurchase program was higher than its $25 billion buyback announced in 2023.
The company posted an adjusted profit of $5.4 billion, or $2.76 per share, in the three months ended March 31. That compared with $5.1 billion, or $2.51 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of $2.68 per share.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
