Credit card giant MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) reported earlier today that net profit for the third quarter surged 63% on a year-over-year basis, hitting $314 million, or $2.31 per share. In the same reporting period in 2006, MA banked $193 million, or $1.42 per share. MA credited this improving profit to increased cardholder spending, particularly internationally.
Excluding items related to the sale of MasterCard's investment in Redecard SA, the company earned $1.80 per share, obliterating The Street estimates of $1.42 per share.
Revenue jumped 20% during the quarter to a record-setting $1.08 billion, from $902 million in the year-ago period. This number also exceeded Wall Street's consensus outlook, for revenue of $1.03 billion.
An accompanying statement from the firm's CEO Robert W. Selander noted that, "We continue to benefit from positive secular trends and outstanding growth in international and emerging markets."
Checking around the globe, worldwide gross dollar volume (spending on MasterCard-branded cards) rose 13% in the third quarter to $577 billion. In the U.S., spending rose 7.7%. Regions including South Asia, Middle East, and Africa posted a gain of 37%, and Latin-American spending was up 20%. Like its primary competitor Visa, MasterCard also appears to be everywhere you want to be.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
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