© Reuters. Visa reports Q4 beat, hikes dividend & announces $25B buyback
Visa (NYSE:) reported better-than-expected Q4 results, with of $2.33 coming in better than the consensus estimate of $2.25.
Revenue grew 11% year-over-year (up 10% on a constant-dollar basis) to $8.6 billion, above the consensus estimate of $8.57B, driven by growth in payments volume, cross-border volume, and processed transactions.
“Throughout the year, we have seen resilient consumer spending, ongoing recovery of cross-border travel spend versus 2019 and continued growth across our new flows and value added services businesses,” said CEO Ryan McInerney.
Furthermore, the company’s board of directors raised the quarterly dividend by 15.6% to $0.520 per share. The annual yield on the dividend is 0.9%. The board also announced a new $25B multi-year share repurchase program.
On the earnings call, the management said it projects FY adjusted net revenue growth will be low double-digit (in constant currency). For FQ1, the company sees revenue in upper to mid-HSD on an adjusted basis.
Visa stock was seen trading 1% lower in early Wednesday trade.
Goldman Sachs analysts slightly lowered the price target and expect “in-line to slightly below guidance” to weigh on shares.
Oppenheimer analysts see “risks to outlooks not including or only including very mild spending slowdowns in the coming quarters.”
“October data fairly flat with YTD metrics in terms of processed transactions growth. Volume likely to be slightly weaker. We still favor V vs. processors given global diversity expense leverage, yet to be pulled. That said, we remain cautious on the payment space,” the analysts wrote.
Additional reporting by Senad Karaahmetovic
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