Visa 4Q profits rise 11 percent, beating analyst forecasts

Visa Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter profits rose 11 percent, the company said Wednesday, as the company continued to benefit from the purchase and integration of Visa Europe, as well as an increase of more customers spending on Visa's payment network.

The San Francisco-based company said it earned $2.14 billion, or 90 cents per share, compared with $1.93 billion, or 79 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The results beat analysts' forecasts, who were looking for Visa to earn 85 cents per share.

Visa saw a 9.8 percent jump in payment volume on its network in the quarter to $1.93 trillion. Visa charges a small fee to merchants every time a payment is processed on its network, so the more money processed on its network, the more money Visa earns. The company saw 9 percent payment volume growth even in the very developed U.S. market, processing $836 billion in payments last quarter.

"Visa ended our fiscal year as we began, with strong growth across payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions, which was bolstered by the addition of Visa Europe," said CEO Alfred Kelly Jr. in a statement. "We're very pleased with our progress in Europe and will continue to make strategic investments that will further strengthen our franchise there and globally."

The global payments processor had revenue of $4.86 billion in the quarter, which also topped Wall Street expectations of $4.62 billion.

For the full year, Visa earned a profit of $6.7 billion, or $2.80 a share, compared with $5.99 billion, or $2.48 a share, a year ago. Full year revenue was $18.36 billion.

Visa's stock ended Wednesday up $1.08, or 1 percent, at $109.49. It has risen 40 percent so far this year.