Visa posts upbeat second-quarter earnings

International payment gateway giant Visa Inc (NYSE: V) announced its second-quarter 2019 earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell.

For the quarter, net revenues rose 8% to $5.5 billion, while net income jumped 14% to $3 billion.

Earnings soared 17% higher to reach $1.31 per share. On a year-over-year nominal basis, quarterly payments volume for the quarter grew 4%, while cross-border volume slipped 2% and processed transactions increased by 11%.

For the period, the market expected earnings of $1.24 per share on sales of about $5.5 billion. Earnings beat estimates, while revenue was in line with the consensus. Given the confidence investors have on Visa, the stock had already crossed more than 20% in growth this year.

This earnings result also comes after Visa beat rival Mastercard (MA) after months of intense pricing battle to finally buy Earthport for $320 million. With Mastercard backing out of the bidding, Visa will add the UK-based company that is a pioneer in cross-border payments.

CEO Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. , weighed in on the results: “We continue to invest heavily behind important strategic initiatives while delivering net income and earnings per share growth of 14% and 17%, respectively.”

Visa reaffirmed its fiscal FY 2019 financial outlook of low double-digit nominal growth in, while updating the following: The company now sees client incentives as a percentage of gross revenues in the range of 22% to 23% for the second half of the fiscal year and at the low end of the 22-23% range for the full fiscal year. The effective tax rate is estimated to be about 20%.

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