MasterCard beats 4Q earnings and revenue expectations

MasterCard Inc. (MA) on Friday reported fourth-quarter profit of $801 million.

The Purchase, New York-based company said it had profit of 69 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions, came to 72 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 67 cents per share.

The processor of debit and credit card payments posted revenue of $2.42 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Analysts expected $2.38 billion, according to Zacks.

MasterCard shares have fallen 5.5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has decreased nearly 2 percent. The stock has risen roughly 5 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MA at http://www.zacks.com/ap/MA

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Keywords: MasterCard, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings