Mastercard Inc. kicked off a busy stretch for payments earnings Thursday morning, beating earnings expectations for its latest quarter amid continued strength in consumer spending. The financial-technology giant notched fourth-quarter net income of $2.5 billion, or $2.62 a share, compared with $2.4 billion, or $2.41 a share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, Mastercard
MA,
+0.63%
earned 2.65 cents a share, up from $2.37 cents a share the year before. The FactSet consensus was $2.57 a share in adjusted earnings.
Revenue at Mastercard increased to $5.82 billion from $5.22 billion, while analysts were looking for $5.79 billion. “While macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty persists, consumer spending has been remarkably resilient,” Chief Executive Michael Miebach said in a release. “We are well prepared to adjust our investment profile quickly if needed.” The company saw gross dollar volume increase 8% in the latest quarter, while cross-border volume rose 31%, both on the basis of constant currency. Switched transactions were up 8% in the period. For 2023, Mastercard executives expect low-teens growth in net revenue and mid-single-digit growth in operating expenses, both on the basis of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Mastercard’s management is also calling for adjusted operating expense growth at the “high-end of high-singl …