Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) reported fiscal third-quarter net revenues of $7.37 billion, up 13% year over year and 14% year over year on a neutral currency basis, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $7.27 billion.
Adjusted EPS rose 15% year over year to $3.89, exceeding the analyst consensus estimate of $3.74.
Payment network net revenue rose 10% Y/Y (+11% Y/Y on a currency-neutral basis), led by growth in gross dollar volume (+10% Y/Y), cross-border volume (+17% Y/Y) and switched transactions (+11% Y/Y).
Value-added services and solutions net revenue rose 18% and 19% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by continued strong growth in cyber and intelligence solutions and high demand for consulting and marketing services, the scaling of its fraud and security and its identity and authentication solutions, and pricing.
Mastercard's switched volume, reflecting the value of transactions on its network, rose by 11% year-over-year. Cross-border volume, which indicates travel demand by tracking spending on cards outside their country of issue, increased by 17% in the same period.
The adjusted operating margin expanded 50 bps Y/Y to 59.3%. The net income climbed 3% on a currency-neutral basis to $3.3 billion, while the adjusted net income improved by 13% on a currency-neutral basis.
As of September 30, 2024, the company's customers had issued 3.4 billion Mastercard and Maestro branded cards.
During the third quarter of 2024, Mastercard repurchased 6.3 million shares for $2.9 billion and paid $611 million in dividends. As of September 30, 2024, cash and cash equivalents stood at $11.4 billion.
"These results reflect healthy consumer spending and ongoing solid demand for our value-added services and solutions, where net revenue increased 18%, or 19% on a currency-neutral basis," said Michael Miebach, Mastercard CEO.
"We continue to invest in our suite of differentiated services to grow our addressable market, protect the ecosystem and add value in every transaction. This includes the planned acquisitions of Recorded Future and Minna Technologies, which are expected to add leading AI-powered threat intelligence and subscription management capabilities to meet the needs of our customers."
On the conference call, Mastercard's CFO said that consumer confidence in Europe continues to improve, and they also see exciting opportunities in China in the medium to long term.
Outlook: For the fourth quarter, Mastercard expects net revenue growth in the low teens compared to the $7.27 billion analyst consensus estimate.
Mastercard stock gained 35% in the last 12 months.
Price Action: MA stock is down 2.21% at $502.33 at the last check on Thursday.