Mastercard's profit beats estimates on resilient consumer spending

Payments processor Mastercard reported a better-than-expected profit for the third quarter on Thursday, as customers encouraged by economic stability ramped up their spending.

The company's shares, however, fell 2 per cent after disclosing that the European Commission has sought documents tied to a broader investigation into alleged anti-competitive behavior in the European Union.

Mastercard and rival Visa are dominant players in the payments industry and have often faced scrutiny and allegations of a duopoly.

Mastercard said it was cooperating with the Commission's request.

Spending holds up

Mastercard's results round out a busy earnings week for payments firms, which are being closely scrutinized to assess the health of the US consumer.

Although some have flagged a slowdown, spending levels remain elevated compared with last year as wage growth and hopes of a soft landing spur consumer confidence.

Trends so far indicate that diversified businesses covering cards, mobile payments, peer-to-peer transactions and value-added services such as fraud protection have been more resilient.

"Mastercard deserves a higher valuation based on strong expected growth in digital and international markets," Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk said.

The company trades at 31.56 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, compared with Visa's 25.71.

Revenue from Mastercard's payment network jumped 11%. Value-added services and solutions fetched 19% more than last year and accounted for 37 per cent of Mastercard's total revenue.

"These results reflect healthy consumer spending and ongoing solid demand for our value-added services and solutions," CEO Michael Miebach said.

Excluding one-time costs, Mastercard earned $3.89 per share compared with expectations of $3.74, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

Profit rose 2 per cent to $3.3 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30. Revenue grew 13 per cent to $7.4 billion.