AAPL Apple Inc

By Robin Sidel and Joshua Jamerson 

Mastercard Inc. said third-quarter profit increased 21% due to strong revenue growth and a jump in processed transactions, propelling the stock by nearly 3% in morning trading.

The results easily beat Wall Street's expectations.

Purchase, N.Y.-based Mastercard said transactions rose 18% during the quarter as cross-border volumes climbed 12%. Those factors were partly offset by higher rebates and incentives to customers.

Chief Executive Ajay Banga told analysts the global economy remains mixed, although the company has seen double-digit volume and transaction growth in most of its markets. "We are executing consistently," Mr. Banga said on a conference call.

Like its main rival Visa Inc., Mastercard processes credit-card and debit-card transactions, charging fees to financial institutions that issue its cards. Visa on Monday said earnings rose on growth in payments volume and processed transactions.

Mastercard reported a profit of $1.18 billion, or $1.08 a share, up from $977 million, or 86 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 14% to $2.88 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 98 cents in per-share profit on $2.75 billion in sales.

The company noted that fourth-quarter revenue growth will slow somewhat, partly due to an anticipated increase in rebates and incentives.

Mastercard is expanding from traditional physical credit and debit cards as its customers move to digital formats. Among other things, it is expanding its digital payment platform, Masterpass, to let shoppers use the service on their mobile phones at store checkout terminals and for online transactions.

Write to Robin Sidel at robin.sidel@wsj.com and Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2016 10:51 ET (14:51 GMT)

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