Visa 4Q results rise 28 percent, helped by Visa Europe

Credit card processing giant Visa said its fiscal fourth-quarter results rose 28 percent from a year earlier, as the company processed more payments on its namesake network. The company's results were also buoyed by the recent purchase of Visa Europe.

On Monday, Visa reported net income of $1.93 billion for the period ended Sept. 30, compared with $1.51 billion in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, Visa earned 79 cents per share compared with 62 cents per share in the same period a year earlier.

The results beat expectations, with analysts surveyed by FactSet expecting earnings of 73 cents per share.

Visa is in a transition period, with Visa working to integrate its purchase of Visa Europe, which closed June 21, and the unexpected announcement last week that its CEO Charlie Scharf would retire at the end of the year.

Visa processed $1.857 trillion on its payment network in the quarter, a closely watched metric by investors, up 47 percent from a year earlier. That includes the $467 billion processed on the Visa Europe network in the quarter. Excluding Visa Europe, the company processed $1.39 trillion compared with $1.264 trillion in the same period a year earlier. Visa makes the majority of its revenue by charging a fee for every transaction processed on their network.

The global payments processor posted revenue of $4.26 billion in the period.

Visa's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, so the company also reported its full-year results on Monday. The San Francisco-based company earned $5.99 billion, down from $6.33 billion, largely due to the stronger dollar and the acquisition costs related to Visa Europe. On a per-share basis, Visa earned $2.48 for the full year compared with $2.58 per share a year earlier.

Visa Inc. shares fell 1.2 percent in after-market trading to $82.19.