MasterCard beats by $0.02, beats on revs (169.00)
- Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.12; revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $3.31 bln vs the $3.25 bln Capital IQ Consensus; 18% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by the impact of the following factors:
- An increase in switched transactions of 17%, to 17.7 billion;
- An increase in cross-border volumes of 17% on a local currency basis;
- A 13% increase in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis, to $1.4 trillion; and
- Acquisitions, primarily Vocalink, contributed 3 percentage points to this growth.
- These increases were partially offset by an increase in rebates and incentives, primarily due to new and renewed agreements and increased volumes.
- Total operating expenses increased 28%. Excluding special items, total adjusted operating expenses increased 15% on a currency-neutral basis. This includes an 8 percentage point impact from acquisitions, primarily Vocalink. The remainder is mostly related to continued investments in strategic initiatives.
- Gives January metrics and updates outlook on the call at 9:0