Earnings

Visa Earnings, Revenue Top Forecasts; Shares Rise

CNBC.com With Reuters
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Visa reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations on Wednesday as customers spent more with their cards.

Visa Card
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After the earnings announcement, the company's shares rose 2 percent in trading after the closing bell. (Click here to get after-hour quotes for Visa.)

The credit and debit card company posted fiscal second-quarter earnings excluding items of $1.60 per share, up from $1.23 a share in the year-earlier period.

Net income was $1.29 billion, or $1.91 a share, compared with $811 million, or $1.23 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 15 percent to $2.58billion from $2.25 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of $1.51 a share on $2.48 billion in revenue.

"Our strong financial performance this quarter was fueled by continued growth of U.S. credit products, strong cross-border spending and expansion of Visa's core business in international markets," said Joseph Saunders, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.

Visa's report follows MasterCard'searlier in the day. MasterCard beat earnings estimates, but its shares fell in trading on Wednesday.