Mastercard beats profit estimates on strong holiday season spending

[BENGALURU] Mastercard  beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday as customers spent more on its cards during the US holiday shopping season, boosting fees for the world's second-largest payment processor.

The company's gross dollar volume, the dollar value of transactions processed, rose 12 per cent to US$1.73 trillion in the fourth quarter.

US retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, restaurants and online, rose every month in the fourth quarter helped by a strong holiday shopping season, while wage gains and the labour market remained on solid footing.

Around 29.38 billion transactions were processed, a 19 per cent increase from a year earlier. The gain was led by a 9 per cent rise in the United States and a 28 per cent jump in Europe.

Net revenue rose 16 per cent to US$4.41 billion, edging past analysts' estimates of US$4.40 billion.

Adjusted net income rose to US$2.0 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31 from US$1.6 billion a year earlier. 

On a per share basis, the company earned US$1.96 per share, while analysts had expected a profit of US$1.87 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shares of the company were up 1 per cent in premarket trading. 

REUTERS