NEW YORK, July 30 — Mastercard Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates today, as lower costs helped dull the blow from fewer people using the payment processor's cards during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has hit large parts of the global retail industry as stores remain shut and shoppers stay at home to avoid catching the highly contagious illness.
Travel bans around the world have taken a toll on payment processors, with Mastercard reporting a 45 per cent drop in cross-border volume on a local currency basis in the quarter.
Gross dollar volume — the dollar value of transactions processed — fell 10 per cent to US$1.4 trillion.
Net income fell about 31 per cent to US$1.42 billion in the second quarter ended June 30. Excluding items, profit was US$1.36 per share, beating estimates of US$1.16, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Mastercard's shares rose 1.41 per cent in premarket trade.
Total operating expenses fell 5 per cent to US$1.6 billion in the quarter.
Rival Visa Inc's results also topped analysts' estimates on Tuesday as lower-than-expected expenses helped protect against lower consumer spending due to a coronavirus-driven surge in unemployment.
The US government reported earlier this month that retail sales rebounded in May and June from a sharp drop in April, and ended down 8 per cent for the quarter from a year earlier. — Reuters
