Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) announced Tuesday that it swung a $514 million profit for the fiscal fourth quarter after suffering a $356 million loss in the same period a year ago. Profits were pushed by increased debit card transactions and a reduction in operating costs.
Visa’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings work out to 69 cents a share, which compares to a loss of 45 cents a share last year. Excluding one-time restructuring charges, the company earned 74 cents a share, slightly ahead of analyst estimates for 72 cents a share, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Fourth quarter revenue totaled $1.87 billion, up from $1.71 billion in the same period a year ago and ahead of analyst estimates for $1.78 billion.
The company did say that total payment volume slipped 2 percent to $687 million, but processed transactions increased 9 percent to 10.5 billion. The total number of Visa cards grew worldwide to 1.7 billion, up 5 percent from last year.
For the full fiscal year, Visa earned $2.35 billion or $3.10 a share on a revenue increase of 10 percent to $6.91 billion.
Looking ahead, Visa said it expects revenue to grow 11 to 15 percent in 2010, leading to a bump in earnings of at least 20 percent.
“As we enter our new fiscal year, we are beginning to see some very early signs of stabilization in our business,” added Saunders. “And, while we cannot predict the ultimate speed or size of any economic recovery, we are confident that Visa is well positioned for future growth based on the investments we continue to make in our processing infrastructure, products and brand.”
Visa also announced it will raise its quarterly dividend payment by 19 percent and authorized a stock repurchase plan of $1 billion.
