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Tuesday, November 03, 2009

MasterCard Swings to $452M Profit in Third Quarter

By Matt Egan

FOXBusiness

MasterCard (MA) said Tuesday it swung to a better-than-expected profit in the third quarter, lifting shares of the world’s second-largest credit card network higher in the premarkets.

The company earned $452 million, or $3.45 a share, during the third quarter. A year earlier MasterCard posted a loss of $194 million, or $1.48 a share.

Excluding one-time items, the card giant earned $3.48 a share, blowing away analysts’ projections for EPS of $2.94. MasterCard’s revenue rose 2% to $1.4 billion, beating the Street’s view of $1.35 billion.

MasterCard said it processed 5.8 billion transactions during the third quarter, a 7.6% increase from a year earlier.

“We are very pleased with our third-quarter financial results, specifically since we began to see signs of stabilization in parts of our business,” CEO Robert Selander said in a statement. “Overall, our results once again underscore the global trend toward electronic payments, and the strength of our business model.”

MasterCard’s results also reflect continued cost-cutting moves as its total operating expenses fell 13.3% on an adjusted-basis last quarter to $685 million.

Lifted by the better-than-expected results, shares of MasterCard jumped to $224.70 ahead of the opening bell. The stock, which closed at $222.65 on Monday, has more than doubled since plunging to $113.05 last November.

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