Shares of Visa Inc. were up more than 1% in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company topped expectations with its latest quarterly results and saw a return to growth for credit transactions.
The company posted fiscal second-quarter net income of $3.0 billion, or $1.38 a share, compared with $3.1 billion, or $1.38 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Visa (V) also earned $1.38 a share, down from $1.39 a share a year prior. The FactSet consensus was for $1.27 a share in both GAAP and adjusted earnings.
Visa's revenue for the quarter dropped to $5.73 billion from $5.85 billion a year prior, while analysts tracked by FactSet were modeling $5.56 billion.
The company saw payments volume grow 11% in the March quarter, with processed transactions rising 8%. Volume from cross-border transactions, or those made between parties from different countries, dropped 11% in the quarter, or 21% when excluding transactions within Europe.
The pandemic has impacted spending growth, especially with international travel largely stalled, but Chief Executive Al Kelly said in Visa's filing that "the recovery is well underway in a number of key markets." Visa saw positive growth in credit transactions during the March quarter, as well as positive growth for card-present transactions.
Debit transactions proved more resilient than credit ones throughout the pandemic as people focused more on spending their own money. Growth for both debit transactions and e-commerce transactions, another hot area, "stayed at very healthy levels" in the latest quarter, Kelly said in his statement.
Visa declined to offer an outlook for the full fiscal year, citing uncertainties in forecasting brought on by the pandemic.