Visa (V) Posts Strong First Quarter Profit, Payments Volume Up 10%

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) just reported its first quarter fiscal 2018 financial results, posting earnings of $1.08 cents per share and revenues of $4.86 billion. Shares are down, however, about 1.8% in trading shortly after as a result.

Currently, V is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, and over the last 60 days, earnings estimates have been mostly moving higher, reflecting a generally bullish consensus on the company.

Visa:

Beat earnings estimates. The financial services giant posted earnings of $1.08 per share, soaring past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 98 cents per share. Adjusted net income came to $2.54 billion for the quarter.

Beat revenue estimates. The company saw consolidated revenue figures of $4.86 billion, just beating our consensus estimate of $4.81 billion and growing 9% year-over-year. Revenues were driven by continued growth in payments volume, cross-border volume, and processed transactions.

Payments volume grew 10% from the prior year period, while cross-border volume growth was 9%.

Total processed transactions, which is a metric that represents transactions processed by Visa, were 30.5 billion, a 12% increase over the prior year.

Visa reaffirmed its financial outlook for fiscal full-year 2018. The company expects net revenue growth in the high single digits and annual operating margin in the high 60s.

“We are off to a solid start in our first fiscal quarter of 2018 as we saw healthy growth in all key business drivers across the globe. In particular, momentum accelerated in the U.S. driven by strong holiday spending and ecommerce growth,” said Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. “Given the recent benefits from the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, we are evaluating ways to further invest in our business, our people and our communities to digitize payments and contribute to overall economic growth.”

Here’s a graph that looks at Visa’s price, consensus, and EPS surprise:

Visa Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Visa Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Visa Inc. Quote

VISA operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network and is one of the most recognized global financial services brands. Visa facilitates global commerce through the transfer of value and information among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses and government entities.

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