MasterCard beats profit estimates as customers spend more

[October 29, 2015]  (Reuters) - Payments network operator MasterCard Inc reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit as the value of transactions processed on its cards jumped 13 percent.

MasterCard's gross dollar volume - the total value of transactions made by customers - rose to $1.16 trillion on a local currency basis.

Cross-border volumes - the value of transactions made by card holders outside the card-issuer's country - jumped 16 percent.

The company's net income fell to $977 million, or 86 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.02 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net revenue rose 1.6 percent to $2.53 billion.

Excluding items, the company earned 91 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 87 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Up to Wednesday's close, the stock had gained about 16 percent this year, underperforming rival Visa Inc's <V.N> 20 percent increase.

(Reporting By Sudarshan Varadhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
 

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