Investing.com - Mastercard (NYSE:MA) said Thursday its profit fell 30% year-on-year in the second quarter, as the slump in travel due to the pandemic hit cross-border spending on its cards.
Earnings per share of $1.36 on revenue of $3.34 billion were still both above forecasts by analysts, who have underestimated the company's performance every quarter for at least the last two years.
Net revenue was down 19% from a year earlier, with two percentage points of that decline attributable to foreign exchange factors. Gross spending on the company's cards was down 10% worldwide, but spending in the U.S. held up much better than in the rest of the world, falling only 5% as opposed a 12% drop internationally. Fees from cross-border payments more than halved to $637 million.
Mastercard shares are up 3% from the beginning of the year, but are still down 10.9% from their 52-week high of $347.25 set on February 20. They are outperforming the S&P 500 which is up 0.9% from the start of the year.
Mastercard shares gained 1.5% in pre-market trade following the report.
Mastercard's report is largely in line with that of its great rival Visa (NYSE:V), which also reported a sharp drop in transactions, revenue and earnings on Tuesday.
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