Visa's profit beats Street view on healthy payment volumes

REUTERS - Visa Inc beat Wall Street's quarterly profit expectations on Wednesday as more people made payments using its world-wide network and it benefited from the acquisition of Visa Europe.

The world's largest payments network operator has beaten analysts' earnings estimates over the past two years as consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, remains at a healthy clip.

Visa's payment volumes rose 9.8 percent to $1.93 trillion, on a constant dollar basis, with the United States accounting for about 43 percent of that total.

The card network was also helped by higher stock markets, which have been consistently hitting records.

Net income rose 11 percent to $2.14 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Earnings per Class A share rose to 90 cents and beat analysts' estimates of 85 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Visa has topped estimates for eight straight quarters.

"Visa ended our fiscal year as we began, with strong growth across payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions, which was bolstered by the addition of Visa Europe," Chief Executive Alfred Kelly Jr said.

Shares of Visa, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, were up 1.5 percent at $109.98 before the bell.

The stock has climbed 37.6 percent this year as of Tuesday's close. The shares have outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index, which rose 18 percent over the same period.

Total operating revenue rose 14 percent to $4.86 billion, beating estimates for the fifth straight quarter, reflecting growth in payment volumes and processed transactions. http://bit.ly/2z5EEeA

Cross-border volumes - the value of transactions made outside of the United States - increased 10 percent, on constant dollar basis. Operating expenses rose marginally to $1.64 billion.

Visa said it expects revenue growth of high-single digits in 2018, on a nominal dollar basis.

Visa's rival, MasterCard reports financial results next week.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Bernard Orr)