Visa 3Q numbers

Visa takes you more than places. Some Visas are harder to get than others. Some have reams and reams of documentation. This Visa however requires that you pay your bank back, they will facilitate the payment. I have heard the theory that the winners in the electronic payment systems will be newer systems. The fact of the matter is that the capital controls imposed on Greeks shows how reliant people are on cash. The machines in the shops worked, it was the way of life, paying for everything cash all the time that is pretty old and outdated.

In other words, perhaps it is time for the Greeks to update their reality on cash, and start carrying electronic wallets. In that way, the 20 minutes spent in front of the ATM queuing can be used for something else. If all the Greek people had signed up for M-Pesa, they would never have needed to draw cash out, you could send your friends, your baker, your tobacco shop owner, the newspaper shop owners some Euros over your mobile phones. This technology exists, use it. They do in East Africa!

Visa reported stronger than anticipated numbers post the bell, sending the stock up over 5 percent in after market trade. It was not all about results, on the conference call, Charlie Scharf the CEO implied that FIFA chief Sepp Blatter should leave now if the football (There is no soccer in FIFA) organisers wanted to keep their relationship with the company. Elections at FIFA are next year. That is a separate matter. This piece will deal with the results. Reported from Foster City, California, it is right there in terms of proximity to Silicon Valley, where I am pretty sure all sorts of payment systems are being currently thought up and engineered.

Visa Inc. Reports Fiscal Third Quarter 2015 Earnings Results <- Follow the link to get the pdf download of the numbers. A 12 percent increase in revenues to 3.5 billion Dollars, driven by a 11 percent volume growth in terms of number of transactions, around 1,3 trillion Dollars of transactions for the quarter. Sounds a little low, right? Total transactions? 18 billion. Diluted EPS of 0.74 Dollars per share on net income of 1.807 billion Dollars, which included a 110 million Dollar increase in fair value of the Visa Europe option. The company continues to buy back shares like crazy, having bought back 15.5 million shares, utilising 1.1 billion in cash, average price is 68.05 Dollars. Closing price last evening was 71.65 Dollars, well done Visa.

Remember that Visa Europe is not owned by Visa inc., rather by the banks of Europe. Visa have an option to buy it. Which is good, as far as I understand it more than 4 out of 5 transactions in Western Europe are still cash based. That needs to change. Governments want more paper trails and not fewer. Cards with the Visa emblazoned across it have increased from 2 billion in 2012 to 2.42 billion now. That is a 20 percent increase in the ability to follow each and every transaction, if you want of course.

This is a company that will continue to benefit across all parts of the globe as older technologies, cash and checks are replaced in the developed world. In the emerging world people are getting access to credit for the first time, getting access to card based technologies. Better and easier payment technologies like Apple pay will leave consumers feeling that the trust has been cemented, remembering that the person processing the payment never once sees the card, Apple encrypts the payment message. Visa will still switch the transaction. We continue to believe that there are plenty of growth opportunities for Visa, we continue to recommend the stock as a strong buy. The market agrees.