Visa profit tops estimates on consumer spending rebound

Visa Inc surpassed market estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as a rebound in consumer spending after the easing of COVID-19 curbs drove up transaction volumes at world's largest payments processor. The results sent Visa's shares 4% higher in extended trading and echoed the bullish commentary from major banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co on strength of the U.S. economy in the face of stubbornly high inflation and the Ukraine conflict.

Visa Inc surpassed market estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as a rebound in consumer spending after the easing of COVID-19 curbs drove up transaction volumes at world's largest payments processor.

The results sent Visa's shares 4% higher in extended trading and echoed the bullish commentary from major banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co on strength of the U.S. economy in the face of stubbornly high inflation and the Ukraine conflict. Visa said its payment volumes rose 17% in the first three months of 2022, with cross-border volumes jumping 38%.

"The Omicron variant impacts were short lived and the global economic recovery that began in the middle of last year continued," Chairman and Chief Executive Alfred Kelly said in the results announcement. Net income rose to $3.6 billion, or $1.7 per share, from $3 billion, or $1.38 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting a figure of $1.65 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Rival American Express had also reported a strong rebound in spending last week that helped it sail past quarterly profit expectations. Visa's operating expenses, however, surged 11% to $2.4 billion as it spent more on employee compensations in a tight labor market.