Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) stock rose 5.59% (As on Jan 28, 12:18:24 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company beat quarterly profit expectations as domestic spending through its cards rose and cross-border volumes grew following an uptick in international travel. While increased vaccination and easing of pandemic-related curbs powered the recovery in spending, it was slightly dented by a surge in infections from the Omicron variant toward the end of the fourth quarter. Gross dollar volumes, which represents the dollar value of the transactions processed, jumped 23% to $2.1 trillion from a year earlier. Cross border volumes, a key metric that track card spending beyond the country of issue, rose 53%. The company’s profit rose to $2.4 billion, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from $1.8 billion, a year earlier. Further, the company is adding to the unique services capabilities with the planned acquisition of Dynamic Yield, which creates individually tailored experiences for consumers across digital channels.

MA in the fourth quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $2.35, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $2.19, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 27 percent to $5.22 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $5.13 billion. Other revenues increased 28%, or 30% on a currency-neutral basis, which includes 9 percentage points of growth due to acquisitions. The remaining growth was driven primarily by the company’s Cyber & Intelligence and Data & Services solutions. These increases to net revenue were partially offset by the rebates and incentives growth of 37%, or 38% on a currency-neutral basis, reflecting the higher growth in volume and transactions and new and renewed deals.

Meanwhile, the total operating expenses increased 16%. Excluding the impact of Special Items, adjusted operating expenses increased 18%, or 19% on a currency-neutral basis. This includes a 7 percentage point increase from acquisitions. The remaining increase was primarily due to increased spending on advertising and marketing, higher personnel costs to support the continued investment in the strategic initiatives and increased data processing costs.

During the fourth quarter of 2021, Mastercard repurchased 3.7 million shares at a cost of $1.3 billion and paid $434 million in dividends. Quarter-to-date through January 24, the company repurchased 1.4 million shares at a cost of $528 million, which leaves $11.4 billion remaining under the approved share repurchase programs.