Visa Inc. Has Increased its Annual Earnings Forecast

annual earnings forecast

On July 20, Visa Inc. (NYSE:$V), one of the largest payment network operators in the world, reported that it beat profit estimates and increased its annual earnings forecast, as more and more people across the United States and Europe used its payments network.

The Foster City, California company, which produces revenue by facilitating credit and debit-card transactions, has benefited immensely from an increase in consumer spending in the United States, and results from Visa Europe, which it purchased in June of 2016 for roughly $23 billion.

In Q3, which ended on June 30th, Visa’s U.S. payments volume increased 12.1% on a constant dollar basis to $840 billion. It’s good to note that more than half of Visa’s total volume of transactions stems from the United States. In regards to Visa Europe, this produced $371 billion in payments volume. Again, it’s helpful to note that results from the Europe unit are not part of Visa’s prior-year quarter.

In addition, Visa increased its annual earnings forecast. According to the company, there are now expectations that its annual adjusted earnings per share will increase about 20%, which is up from an earlier prediction of growth in the mid-teen percentage digits. Further, Visa predicts net revenue to increase about 20% in the year ending September 30, having earlier forecasted a 16% to 18% increase.

Chief Financial Officer Vasant Prabhu said Visa has benefited from a “sharp increase” in cross-border commerce into the U.K. due to a weaker pound following Brexit.

Let’s dive a bit more into the numbers:

Net income increased to $2.06 billion, or 86 cents per Class A share in the quarter, from $412 million, or 17 cents per Class A share. Additionally, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, analysts on average had expected earnings of 81 cents. Operating revenue rose 26 cents to $4.57 billion, thus edging past analysts predictions of $4.36 billion.

In trading after the bell, Visa shares were up 1% at $99.12.

Featured Image: Depositphotos/© valphoto

About the author: Caroline Harris is a third-year student at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Canada. Having already completed an Associates Degree in Psychology, Caroline is now finishing her Bachelor's degree in Communications. In preparation for working in the advertisement sector, Caroline is writing financial content and analysis. On a daily basis, Caroline works on articles regarding the following topics: finance, cryptocurrency, technology, and politics.