MasterCard Sees 25% Earnings Climb

It was revealed on Wednesday that Mastercard

saw a 25% profit jump for the first-quarter, though the company itself sent out swift warnings that this sort of growth won't be the normal course of events during the rest of 2012. It's telling that, despite what on the surface look like a stellar set of numbers, shares of MA fell. The market is seeing something that numbers aren't showing us, and that is likely the fact that this is a (welcome) blip. Mastercard reported earnings of $5.36 per share, blowing away the consensus analyst estimate of $5.30. Revenue increased by 17% to $1.8 billion, which can largely be put down to an increase in gross dollar volume. That helped move net income up to $682 million. While we are in the midst of an economic meltdown, these results show that people will still spend on plastic when they have to. Still, with business slowing in April, MA hasn't changed it's forecast for the year at all, at 12-14% on revenue and 20% on EPS. Shares of MA fell 2.5% to $444.50. Meanwhile, Visa

reported that it's down 1.7% to $121.00. American Express

was down 0.1% at $60.89.