Visa’s Q4 profit rose 89%, topping analyst estimates, and the company announced it would return more cash to investors, sending shares higher on Thursday. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.0 billion or $1.54 per share while revenue increased 15% to $2.7 billion. Analysts were expecting Visa to earn $1.0 billion on revenue of $2.68 billion.
Management said it expects annual net revenue growth to be in the low double digits and adjusted EPS growth to be in the high teens percentage terms for F2013. CEO Joseph Saunders commented, “Visa delivered strong financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year, a result of our focus on growing our core business, accelerating expansion of our business outside the U.S.”
In an effort to return cash to investors, the company announced a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program, and bumped its dividend by 50% to $2.47 per class A share. The combined cost of the dividend and share repurchase program will be roughly $3.2 billion
Visa (V : NYSE : US$143.88), Net Change: 5.12, % Change: 3.69%, Volume: 5,323,016
