Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA | MA Price Prediction) reported its third-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Wednesday. The firm said that it had $1.60 in earnings per share (EPS) and $3.8 billion in revenue, which compared with consensus estimates of $1.66 in EPS and revenue of $3.95 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $2.15 on $4.47 billion in revenue.
During the latest quarter, net revenue decreased 14% on both a reported and currency-neutral basis, reflecting the impact of the pandemic. This was driven by a cross-border volume decline of 36% on a local currency basis and relatively flat rebates and incentives.
However, somewhat offsetting the decline was gross dollar volume growth of 1% to $1.6 trillion, switched transactions growth of 5% and other revenues growth of 5%.
On the plus side, total operating expenses decreased 4%, or 5% on a currency-neutral basis. Excluding acquisitions, expenses decreased 8%, primarily related to lower advertising and marketing, travel, personnel costs and professional fee spend.
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By the end of the September quarter, the company’s customers had issued 2.7 billion Mastercard and Maestro branded cards.
For the third quarter, Mastercard repurchased approximately 6.5 million shares at a cost of $2.1 billion and paid $402 million in dividends. On the books, the company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents totaling $10.23 billion, up from $6.99 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.
The company did not issue any guidance in the report. However, analysts are calling for $1.82 in EPS and $4.36 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter.
Mastercard stock traded down 6.5% Wednesday to $296.56, in a 52-week range of $199.99 to $367.25. The consensus price target is $361.47.
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