Visa Inc. topped earnings and revenue expectations Thursday amid strong debit-card and online-shopping trends, and the payments giant also announced a new $8 billion buyback program.
The company reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $3.13 billion, or $1.42 a share, down from $3.27 billion, or $1.46 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. On an adjusted basis, Visa V,
Visa’s revenue for the fiscal first quarter dipped to $5.69 billion from $6.05 billion, while analysts were calling for $5.52 billion.
Shares were up 1.8% in after-hours trading Thursday.
“We saw sustained strength of debit and e-commerce volumes as well as resilient domestic spending in most countries,” Chief Executive Al Kelly said in Visa’s earnings release. Revenue from value-added services accelerated in the quarter, he added.
Payment volume for the quarter grew 5%, though cross-border volume declined 21% due to depressed international travel trends during the COVID-19 crisis. When excluding cross-border transactions between European countries, cross-border volume decreased 33%.
Visa said that on Jan. 26 its board of directors approved an additional $8 billion in stock buybacks. The company had $3.6 billion remaining on its previous buyback authorization as of Jan. 1.
The company declined to give a formal financial outlook in its release, citing uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.
The report follows one from fellow payments giant Mastercard Inc. MA,
Visa shares have lost 9.4% so far this year as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
