Earnings

MasterCard earnings: $1.08 a share, vs 98 cents estimate

Jonathan Bainbridge | Reuters

MasterCard reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts' expectations on Friday.

The company reported a third-quarter profit of $1.08 per share on revenue of $2.88 billion. Analysts expected MasterCard to report earnings of 98 cents a share on revenue of $2.75 billion, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.

Shares of the company rose more than 1 percent in premarket trade immediately after the announcement.

"We are executing on our strategy, deepening issuer relationships and delivering our customers and partners digital-first solutions. As a result, consumers benefit from seamless and secure purchase experiences everywhere and every way they shop," CEO Ajay Banga said in a statement.

The net revenue number marked a 14-percent increase over the same period last year. The company attributed the growth to an increase in processed transactions of 18 percent and an increase in cross-border volumes of 12 percent.

The company reported an 11 percent increase in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis. Worldwide purchase volume during the third quarter was up 9 percent on a local currency basis, the company said, adjusting for European Union regulatory changes.

As of Sept. 30, customers had issued 2.3 billion MasterCard and Maestro-branded cards, the company said.

During the quarter, MasterCard repurchased about 6 million shares of Class A common stock for $591 million.

The earnings report comes after overall U.S. consumer spending in August came in unchanged, according to the Commerce Department, the weakest performance in five months. Data on consumer spending in September is not yet available.

In July, MasterCard posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit driven by consumers spending more on cards using its network.

Reuters contributed to this report.