Shares in MasterCard (MA) fell 3.3% in pre-market trading Wednesday, to $422, after the firm posted second-quarter revenue of $1.82 billion, less than the $1.88 billion estimated by 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga is pushing the Purchase, N.Y., company into emerging markets amid a continuing consumer shift to electronic payments from cash and checks. He also seeks to build on market-share gains spurred by new U.S. rules on debit-card fees and processing.
"Though economic uncertainties continued to persist, we experienced solid volume and processed transaction growth in all regions as we are focused on driving our global business to expand the reach of electronic payments," Banga, 52, said in a news release.
Adjusted net income rose 17 percent to $713 million, or $5.65 a share, from $608 million, or $4.76, a year earlier. That beat the average estimate of $5.58 a share by 33 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
MasterCard and Visa and some of the biggest U.S. banks agreed last month to settle a price-fixing case brought by retailers, who accused the firms of rigging credit-card fees. MasterCard said the settlement will cost it $790 million. Visa, the world's biggest payments network, said its share of the settlement was about $4.4 billion. MasterCard took a $13 million after-tax charge in the second quarter after recording a $770 million charge in its fourth quarter.
MasterCard's share of worldwide purchase transactions on both credit and debit cards expanded by almost half of a percentage point last year to 25.57%, while Visa's share, including those purchases processed by Visa Europe Ltd., fell 1.1 percentage points to 64.67%, according to the Nilson Report, an industry newsletter based in Carpinteria, Calif.
