Strong revenue growth

Visa and Mastercard posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results than Wall Street had anticipated, driven by growth in consumer spending on entertainment and tourism.

Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) shares rose after posting stronger financial results for the quarter ended June 30.

Executives pointed to strong earnings and revenue growth due to higher consumer spending on travel, entertainment and restaurants.

Visa report

Visa chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu said the company posted its "strongest growth since the pandemic" in the third financial quarter.

Visa reported third-quarter earnings growth of 39% to $1.49 per share. Earnings were $2.6bn, up from $2.37bn a year earlier.

Total quarterly revenue rose 26% to $6.1bn from an estimate of $5.83bn.

Visa's international transaction revenues rose 54% to $1.7bn. Payment volume was up 34%. The total number of transactions processed in Visa grew 39% to $42.6 billion.

Visa CEO Alfred Kelly attributed the profit and revenue growth to the recovery in industries and the resumption of growth in global economies.

Earlier on July 13, Visa announced a partnership with Global Payments (GPN) and Desjardins, a leading financial cooperative group in North America, to provide Visa installment payments to Canadian merchants and credit card holders. Visa's shares rose after the announcement. On 6 July, Visa teamed up with BlockFi to launch a 2% bitcoin credit card for US residents.

Mastercard report

Mastercard reported second-quarter earnings per share growth of 43% to $1.95. Quarterly earnings rose to $1.9 billion from $1.4 billion a year earlier.

Total quarterly revenue rose 35% to $4.5bn.

Mastercard's cross-border transaction volumes were up 58% in local currency terms due to an increase in international travel. That figure was down 45% in the same period a year ago.

Consumer spending on Mastercard cards rose sharply during the quarter due to massive government stimulus packages to the US population, which saw Mastercard's gross payment volumes or dollar value of transactions processed rise 33% in local currency to $1.9 trillion.

Over the past six months, Visa and Mastercard shares have risen 26.7% and 21.5% respectively.