Visa Shares Edge Higher As Q1 Earnings Mixed

Investors are cheering mixed quarterly results out of Visa Inc V Thursday afternoon.

The company reported adjusted first-quarter 2016 net income of $1.7 billion, or $0.69 per share. Earnings were up 10 percent on a year-over-year basis. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $0.68 per share.

Visa posted a 5 percent increase in quarterly sales, from $3.382 billion in the same quarter last year to $3.565 billion. The Street had been expecting sales of $3.62 billion.

Visa CEO Charlie Scharf said, "We continue to be pleased with our financial performance given the uneven global economy and the ongoing negative effects of the strong U.S. dollar. While we continue to see relatively strong payments volume growth, these factors have meaningfully reduced our cross-border volume and revenue growth. While these headwinds do not appear to be abating in the short-term as we had hoped, the fundamentals of our business remain strong and our long-term growth trajectory remains intact as we navigate through this uncertain environment."

Looking ahead toward year-end 2016, Visa is expecting annual sales growth in the high single-digit to low double-digit range. Annual operating margin expected in the mid 60 percent range.

Shares of Visa traded up about 2.4 percent in Thursday's after-hours session. The stock last traded at $71 even.