Mastercard beats profit estimates on strong holiday season spending

Mastercard Inc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday as customers spent more on its cards during the US holiday shopping season, boosting fees for the world's second-largest payment processor.

The company's gross dollar volume, the dollar value of transactions processed, rose 12% to $1.73 trillion in the fourth quarter. US retail sales, a measure of purchases at stores, restaurants and online, rose every month in the fourth quarter helped by a strong holiday shopping season, while wage gains and the labor market remained on solid footing.

Around 29.38 billion transactions were processed, a 19% increase from a year earlier. The gain was led by a 9% rise in the United States and a 28% jump in Europe. Net revenue rose 16% to $4.41 billion, edging past analysts' estimates of $4.40 billion.

Adjusted net income rose to $2.0 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $1.6 billion a year earlier. On a per share basis, the company earned $1.96 per share, while analysts had expected a profit of $1.87 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.