The company narrowly surpassed EPS estimates, with analysts expecting earnings per share to come in at $1.70. The reported non-GAAP EPS of $1.81 is a 27% increase from the previous year. Visa reported a net revenue for the first quarter of $7.1 billion, up 24%. Visa also reported a 20% increase in payment volume, a 40% increase in total cross-border volume, and a 21% increase in processed transactions. Coupled with both Mastercard and American Express’ earning reports, it’s a good indication that consumer travel and spending are making a comeback. “The strength of our network, the growth in eCommerce, better than expected progress in the return of cross-border travel, and a continuation of the recovery all contributed to an excellent quarter,” said Visa CEO Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. in the press release. On the earnings conference call, Visa CFO Vasant Prabhu said he expects revenues to continue to grow as pandemic restrictions are lifted. “We expect net revenues to grow at the high end of high teens in the second quarter,” he said. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the company were up 16% to $2.1 billion, with a 36% increase in marketing spending over the previous year. “[Fiscal year 2022] is off to an excellent start. We expect our growth this year will be well above the pre-COVID rate as cross-border recovers,” Prabhu said. Kelly indicated he doesn’t expect the recent surge in Omicron cases to impact the company’s future growth, and he’s optimistic that travel and commerce will continue to recover. On the conference call, he said Visa will continue to expand on its payment ecosystem and support new cryptocurrency initiatives. “We remain confident that we are well-positioned, via our multi-pronged growth strategy, to deliver strong results well into the future,” Kelly said in the press release.
