Global payment volumes rise 8%
Cross-border volume growth decelerates
Shares fall 1% in extended trading
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Visa V.N exceeded estimates for first-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, buoyed by increased card usage during the holiday season amid resilient U.S. consumer spending in the last three months of 2025.
Higher-income households were the primary drivers, with the holidays seeing record shoppers and a surge in online sales.
Visa's services are used by billions worldwide for everyday purchases, making it a barometer for economic health.
Lower and middle-income households had limited ability to substitute purchases, however, as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs raised prices for consumers.
Global payment volumes, a gauge of overall consumer and business spending on Visa's network, jumped 8% on a constant-dollar basis in the reported quarter.
In a statement, CEO Ryan Mclnerney also credited the strong quarterly results to continued strength in value-added services and commercial and money movement solutions.
Peer Mastercard MA.N also reported strong results in the quarter on Thursday, as resilient spending on travel, leisure and everyday essentials boosted transaction volumes for the payments processor.
However, Visa's cross-border total volumes grew at a slightly slower pace of 12% in the first quarter compared with the year-ago period.
Its cross‑border metrics - a real‑time proxy for global trade and travel, a focus point for markets since Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements last year - are closely watched by analysts and economists.
In the last quarter, Visa's finance chief Chris Suh said in an interview with Reuters that the company had not seen a meaningful impact from tariffs.
"Shares sold off modestly likely due to higher opex guide for fiscal year second quarter (we assume Olympics-related) and some weakness in cross-border trends," analysts at Evercore ISI said in a note.
Shares of the company were down 1% in extended trading. Visa's stock gained nearly 11% in 2025, outperforming Mastercard but lower than American Express AXP.N and broader market returns. American Express is scheduled to report quarterly results on Friday morning.
Visa's adjusted net income came in at $6.1 billion, or $3.17 per share, in the three months ended December 31. That compares with $5.5 billion, or $2.75 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting a profit of $3.14 apiece, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.
"Visa tends to guide conservatively, and it has shown consistent ability to outperform on the top and bottom lines, as was just demonstrated this quarter," analysts at Seaport Research partners said.
The company reported revenue of $10.90 billion, also beating Wall Street estimates of $10.69 billion.
STABLECOIN PUSH
Visa is working to integrate stablecoins into existing payment systems, seeing an opportunity to maintain its market leadership as these tokens gain traction, Visa's head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, said earlier this month.
"The stablecoin opportunity remains additive to what Visa is doing today, and we will continue to invest where we see the greatest demand," a Visa executive said in an analyst call.
The company already has various stablecoin-related initiatives, including stablecoin-linked payment cards. It launched a pilot program in December to allow some U.S. banks to settle with Visa using Circle's stablecoin, USDC.