Visa Inc. earnings jump 25 in fiscal third quarter, easily topping analysts' estimates

Visa Inc. says its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 25 percent, helped by a double-digit rise in payments processed on its network.

The payment processing giant earned $1.7 billion after payments to preferred shareholders, compared to a profit of $1.36 billion a year earlier. On a per share basis, the bank earned 69 cents per share, compared with 54 cents a share a year earlier.

The results easily topped estimates. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 58 cents per share.

Visa's network processed $1.2 trillion in payments, up 11 percent from a year ago. Visa earns a small percentage of every transaction processed on its network. Net revenue at Visa totaled $3.52 billion, up from $3.15 billion a year earlier.

Shares of Visa jumped 7 percent to $76.88 in after-market trading.