WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Global Payments Inc. (GPN) Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the second quarter, driven mainly by double-digit revenue growth. Moving ahead, the payment processing company also lifted its full year earnings guidance.
Global Payments, which provides services to American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, said revenues for the quarter grew 11 percent to $588.5 million from $530.5 million last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected revenue of $574.82 million for the quarter.
Merchant services revenues from the US rose 16 percent, while Canada dropped 6 percent. Revenues in Europe advanced 14 percent, while Asia-Pacific gained 1 percent.
Atlanta, Georgia based Global Payments' profit for the quarter improved to $70.2 million or $0.89 per share from $61.2 million or $0.78 per share last year.
Cash earnings for the quarter improved to $0.93 per share from $0.86 per share last year. Analysts expected earnings of $0.87 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Moving forward, the company lifted its earnings guidance for the full year 2013. Global Payments now expects earnings of $3.01 to $3.08 per share, up from prior expectation of $2.99 to $3.06 per share. The company now expects cash earnings of $3.61 to $3.68 per share, up from prior outlook of $3.59 to $3.66 per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of $3.64 per share for the year.
For the full year, the company continues to expect revenue of $2.36 billion to $2.40 billion. Analysts currently expect revenues of $2.38 billion for the fiscal year 2013.
GPN closed Tuesday's trading at $46.07, up 0.26%, In after hours, the stock gained 2.02%.
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