Visa Earnings: Revenue Up 13% as Card Spending Growth Slowed
Visa’s net revenue rose 13% to $12.1 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2026, closing a record year, and adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings per share rose 17% to $3.48. Spending on Visa cards grew 9% from a year earlier, slower than April to June’s 10%, its fastest in two years, which Visa tied partly to tax refunds and the World Cup.
The short answer. Spending on Visa cards grew more slowly in the summer months than in April to June, which had been its quickest growth in two years. Visa’s card volume, about $4 trillion a quarter and close to half of it in the US by our count, is one of the broadest readings of consumer spending. By our calculation, the gap between cross-border volume growth (12%, without currency swings) and the international transaction revenue Visa earns on it (8%, in reported dollars) widened to 4 points in fiscal 2026 from 1 point a year earlier, a year Visa said higher currency volatility had helped.
Visa fiscal fourth quarter 2026, July to September
On this page
Visa earnings and the pace of card spending
Its growth slowed. Spending on Visa cards grew 9% from a year earlier, after 10% in April to June.
Payments volume is the dollar value of purchases made with Visa cards, and Visa measures its growth without currency swings. In the eight quarters to June 2026 it grew 8% to 10% a quarter by the rounded figures in Visa’s releases, and the 10% of April to June was the highest.
The US is the largest single piece, close to half of the total. In April to June 2026, US spending on Visa cards grew 10.0%. Visa’s chief financial officer, Chris Suh, called that “a growth rate not seen since fiscal 2019, excluding the post-COVID recovery” on the July 28 call.
He gave Visa’s reasons. They were higher tax refunds, the cost of fuel, the timing of promotional shopping events, Visa Direct (Visa’s service for sending money between accounts) and spending around the FIFA World Cup. He also said US volume through July 21 was up 9%, “a step-down from June”. For July to September, Visa’s operational data shows US spending on its cards grew 9.7%, a little below the 10.0% of April to June.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Jul-Sep 2024 | 5.0% |
| Oct-Dec 2024 | 7.3% |
| Jan-Mar 2025 | 6.0% |
| Apr-Jun 2025 | 6.8% |
| Jul-Sep 2025 | 7.7% |
| Oct-Dec 2025 | 6.6% |
| Jan-Mar 2026 | 8.1% |
| Apr-Jun 2026 | 10.0% |
| Jul-Sep 2026 | 9.7% |
Fuel is one part Visa itself named, and gas cost far more this year than last. The US average price of regular gasoline was $4.355 a gallon in September 2026, against $3.166 a year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration. Payments volume counts dollars spent, so higher prices, fuel among them, raise it. Visa does not say how much of its volume is fuel, so that share cannot be worked out from its figures.
Another card network covered the same months. American Express reported billed business of $454.0 billion, the spending on its cards, for July to September, up 8% both as reported and after currency adjustment, in its third quarter release. The two companies measure differently, so the figures point the same way more than they match.
Visa cross-border volume and fees
Cross-border volume, leaving out payments within Europe, grew 14% without currency swings. International transaction revenue, which Visa earns on those payments and on converting currencies, grew 8% in reported dollars, a different basis, so the revenue again grew more slowly than the volume.
Cross-border volume covers a card used outside its home country, on a trip or at a foreign online store. Visa says the measure that leaves out payments within Europe is the one that “drives our international transaction revenue”, which was $4.1 billion in the quarter. Visa reports that revenue in dollars as booked, currency effects included, so the two growth rates are on different bases.
Online shopping has been the faster half. For April to June, Suh said travel-related cross-border volume grew 10% while cross-border online shopping grew 16%.
The two have grown at different speeds all year, as the chart below shows. For the full fiscal year the two were 12% and 8%. Visa’s release gives no growth rate without currency swings for international transaction revenue, so the bases differ and part of the gap could reflect currency.
In fiscal 2025 the two were close, 13% for volume and 12% for the revenue. Visa explained the April to June gap on its July call, where Suh said it was “really related to two things”, currency volatility and “the mix of the business”.
On volatility, he said Visa was being compared with the most volatile quarter of the year before. On mix, he said products like Visa Direct “typically” earn a lower rate than card payments. Visa’s annual report says this revenue comes from cross-border processing and “currency conversion activities”, and it credited part of fiscal 2025’s growth to “higher volatility of a broad range of currencies”.
Show the data
| Category | Cross-border volume, ex Europe | International transaction revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 FY24 | 13% | 9% |
| Q1 FY25 | 16% | 14% |
| Q2 FY25 | 13% | 10% |
| Q3 FY25 | 11% | 14% |
| Q4 FY25 | 11% | 10% |
| Q1 FY26 | 11% | 6% |
| Q2 FY26 | 11% | 10% |
| Q3 FY26 | 12% | 6% |
| Q4 FY26 | 14% | 8% |
Visa revenue and profit for the July to September quarter
Visa took in $12.1 billion, 13% more than a year earlier, and its profit per share rose on the adjusted measure Visa leads with.
The figures come from Visa’s results release of October 27, 2026. Net revenue grew 13% once currency moves are taken out. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $3.48, up 17%. That measure leaves out items such as litigation provisions, money set aside for lawsuits, and severance.
GAAP earnings per share were $3.19, up 22%, before those adjustments. A year earlier the GAAP figure was $2.62, held down by an $899 million litigation provision in that quarter, so the GAAP comparison starts from a low base.
Two lines moved furthest. Other revenue rose 40% to $1.6 billion; Visa’s annual report says it holds value-added services such as advisory work and issuing solutions, plus licence fees for the Visa brand. Client incentives rose 21% to $5.1 billion, faster than net revenue. Those are the payments Visa makes to banks and merchants to win and keep their business, and they come off the top.
Part of the quarter’s revenue looks back a quarter. Visa books service revenue on the spending of the previous quarter, so this line rests on April to June. For the full fiscal year to September 30, net revenue was $45.9 billion, up 15%.
Chief executive Ryan McInerney called it “record net revenue of $46 billion, up 15%, the strongest growth in over 15 years excluding the post-pandemic recovery and acquisitions”.
Show the data
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Q4 FY24 | $9.6B |
| Q1 FY25 | $9.5B |
| Q2 FY25 | $9.6B |
| Q3 FY25 | $10.2B |
| Q4 FY25 | $10.7B |
| Q1 FY26 | $10.9B |
| Q2 FY26 | $11.2B |
| Q3 FY26 | $11.6B |
| Q4 FY26 | $12.1B |
Show the data
| Revenue line, July to September 2026 | Amount | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| Service revenue | $5.3 billion | 14% |
| Data processing revenue | $6.2 billion | 16% |
| International transaction revenue | $4.1 billion | 8% |
| Other revenue | $1.6 billion | 40% |
| Client incentives | $5.1 billion | 21% |
| Net revenue | $12.1 billion | 13% |
Source: Visa results release, quarter ended September 30, 2026. Client incentives are payments Visa makes to banks and merchants and are subtracted to reach net revenue.
Visa’s operating costs grew more slowly than its revenue, both as reported and with one-off items left out.
Operating expenses were $4.9 billion in the quarter, up 7% as reported. Visa said the rise was primarily driven by an increase in general and administrative expenses. The reported rise is measured against a year-ago quarter that carried an $899 million litigation provision. Leaving out special items and costs tied to past acquisitions, non-GAAP operating expenses rose 12%, primarily driven by increases in marketing and personnel expenses.
On the July call, chief executive Ryan McInerney said Visa was “eliminating roles, with the majority being in our technology and product teams”, and moving product work into much smaller teams. The April to June quarter carried $563 million of severance costs, which Visa leaves out of its non-GAAP figures.
In July to September the special items excluded from non-GAAP operating expenses were a $469 million litigation provision for the interchange case, the long-running merchant lawsuit over card fees, and $282 million for a donation of investments to the Visa Foundation.
Visa dividend, buybacks and debt
Yes, Visa raised its quarterly dividend by about 16% to $0.780 a share, and it kept buying back its own shares.
In the July to September quarter Visa bought back about 11 million of its class A shares, the ones listed on the stock exchange, for $4.0 billion.
Over the fiscal year it bought about 61 million shares for $20.5 billion. It had $24.4 billion of buyback authority, money its board has approved for buybacks, left at September 30, 2026. The average diluted share count, which includes shares that employee awards could add, was 1.88 billion in the quarter, against 1.95 billion a year earlier; net income divided by it gives earnings per share. Visa carried $19.4 billion of long-term debt at September 30, 2026, with $2.7 billion more due within a year, against $14.2 billion of cash, cash equivalents and investment securities.
Source: Visa results release, quarter ended September 30, 2026.
Visa’s outlook for fiscal 2027
Visa expects net revenue to grow at a “low-double-digit” rate in fiscal 2027, in its fourth quarter presentation. That is the same starting range it gave for fiscal 2026, a year whose reported growth came in at 15%, on a different basis from the forecast.
Visa gives its forecast as a range of words, and its headline range is on a non-GAAP basis that also leaves out currency moves and recent acquisitions. A year ago, in its October 2025 presentation, it expected fiscal 2026 net revenue to grow at a “low-double-digit” rate.
By July it had moved that to the “low-end of low-teens” on the same adjusted basis, and it expected the July to September quarter at the “high-end of low-double-digit”, according to its third quarter presentation.
The fiscal 2027 net revenue range is “low-double-digit” both on Visa’s adjusted basis, which leaves out currency swings, and in reported dollars. On the adjusted basis, Visa also expects operating expenses to grow at a “low-double-digit” rate and earnings per share at “low-double-digit to low-teens”. For October to December, its first fiscal quarter, it expects net revenue growth at a “low-double-digit” rate on that basis, and at the “high-end of low-double-digit” in reported dollars.
For fiscal 2026, the July slides had put net revenue growth at the “low-end of mid-teens” in reported dollars, and the 15% Visa reported met that range.
So Visa closed the year with what its chief executive called the strongest revenue growth in over 15 years outside the pandemic rebound and acquisitions. It starts the new one with the same low-double-digit range it used a year ago, while card spending growth eased over the summer.
What to watch
- How spending on Visa cards ran in October: Visa’s slides chart October 1 to 21, and the call at 5:00 p.m. ET on October 27 and its transcript on Visa’s investor site give the detail.
- Why international transaction revenue lagged cross-border volume by 6 points in July to September: the call at 5:00 p.m. ET on October 27 and its transcript.
- Whether Mastercard saw the same change in spending growth over July to September: its results on October 29, 2026.
Our numbers
- 4 percentage points: the gap in fiscal 2026 between cross-border volume growth excluding transactions within Europe (12%, without currency swings) and international transaction revenue growth (8%, reported dollars), one subtracted from the other, against 1 point in fiscal 2025.
- 48%: the US share of spending on Visa cards in July to September 2026, $1,948 billion of $4,080 billion in Visa’s operational data.
Frequently asked questions
How much revenue did Visa make in fiscal 2026?
Net revenue was $45.9 billion for the fiscal year to September 30, 2026, up 15%, which Visa called a record. The July to September quarter brought $12.1 billion of it, up 13%.
How does Visa make money?
Visa runs the network that moves card payments between banks. Its annual report says it does not issue cards or extend credit. It earns fees on the volume of spending, on processing each payment and on payments across borders, plus revenue from services such as advisory work. It then subtracts the incentives it pays banks and merchants.
Did Visa raise its dividend?
Yes. On October 27, 2026 the board raised the quarterly dividend to $0.780 a share from $0.670, payable on December 1, 2026 to shareholders on its books on November 10, 2026.
What do Visa’s results say about US consumer spending?
US spending on Visa cards grew 10.0% in April to June 2026, the fastest rate since fiscal 2019 outside the pandemic rebound, by Visa’s account. Visa said it was running at 9% through July 21. For July to September, Visa’s operational data shows US growth of 9.7%, a little below the spring’s pace.
Where can I follow Visa stock on StockTitan?
The Visa overview page carries the price, news and filings, and the Visa financials page holds the quarterly statements.
Sources
- Visa (V) overview on StockTitan
- Visa (V) financials on StockTitan
- Visa Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2026 Financial Results, press release, October 27, 2026
- American Express earnings: card fees grew twice as fast as spending
- PayPal earnings: adjusted profit fell 3%, fewer shares lifted EPS
- Visa fiscal fourth quarter and full-year 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal third quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal second quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal first quarter 2026 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal fourth quarter 2025 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal third quarter 2025 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal second quarter 2025 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal first quarter 2025 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal fourth quarter 2024 results release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- Visa fiscal fourth quarter 2026 results presentation
- Visa operational performance data, fiscal fourth quarter 2026
- Visa operational performance data, fiscal third quarter 2026
- Visa operational performance data, fiscal fourth quarter 2025
- Visa annual report on Form 10-K, fiscal 2025
- Visa fiscal third quarter 2026 earnings call transcript
- Visa fiscal third quarter 2026 results presentation
- Visa fiscal fourth quarter 2025 results presentation
- American Express third quarter 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)
- US Energy Information Administration, US regular gasoline retail prices, monthly
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.