MasterCard Shares Up 2% As Profit Beats Estimates

MasterCard Inc. shares rose 2% in premarket trade, after the payment and card processing company reported better-than-expected profit for the first quarter. The company said it had net income of $1.02 billion, or 89 cents a share, in the period, up from $870 million, or 73 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose to $2.23 billion from $2.17 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 80 cents a share on revenue of $2.28 billion. Revenue growth was driven by a 19% increase in cross-border volumes, a 12% increase in gross dollar volume on a local currency basis to $1.1 trillion, and an increase in processed transactions of 12% to $11 billion. "We are managing well, despite a mixed economic environment and challenging currency situation," Chief Executive Ajay Banga said in a statement. Shares have gained 4.7% in the year so far.