Skip to content
    V
    Earnings call· Mar 2026(Q2 FY26)

    VISA Q2 FY26 earnings call V

    Apr 28, 2026 Source

    Executive summary

    Visa Inc. Q2 FY26 — Strong Revenue and EPS Growth Driven by VAS and CMS

    Visa delivered robust Q2 FY26 results, driven by strong performance in value-added services and commercial solutions, alongside consistent consumer payments growth. The company is strategically focused on expanding its addressable market through AI, agentic commerce, and stablecoin initiatives, while navigating regional geopolitical headwinds. Management raised its full-year revenue and EPS guidance, reflecting confidence in its diversified business model and execution.

    Highlights

    5

    • Net revenue increased 17% year-over-year to $11.2 billion, marking the strongest growth since 2022.

    • Diluted EPS grew 20% year-over-year, outperforming expectations.

    • Value-added services revenue surged 27% year-over-year in constant dollars to $3.3 billion.

    • Commercial and money movement solutions revenue grew 24% in constant dollars.

    • The company executed its highest quarterly stock buyback in history, repurchasing $7.9 billion in stock.

    Concerns

    3

    • Payments volume growth in CEMEA stepped down by approximately 2.5 points from Q1 due to the Middle East conflict.

    • Cross-border travel-related volume in April was impacted by the Middle East conflict and Ramadan timing.

    • Non-operating expense of $45 million was above expectations, primarily due to lower cash balances and higher debt levels and interest rates.

    Guidance & targets

    16
    CategoryTargetConfidence
    Full-year net revenue growth
    low double-digit to low teens
    high materiality
    High
    Full-year operating expense growth
    low double-digit to low teens
    medium materiality
    High
    Full-year non-operating expense
    approximately $150 million
    medium materiality
    High
    Full-year tax rate
    between 18% and 18.5%
    medium materiality
    High
    Full-year adjusted EPS growth
    low teens
    high materiality
    High
    Q3 net revenue growth
    low double digits
    medium materiality
    High
    Q3 operating expense growth
    low teens
    medium materiality
    High
    Q3 non-operating expense
    about $55 million
    medium materiality
    High
    Q3 tax rate
    around 18.5%
    medium materiality
    High
    Q3 EPS growth
    mid- to high single digits
    high materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on full-year net revenue growth
    approximately 1 point
    low materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on full-year operating expense growth
    approximately 1.5 points
    low materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on full-year EPS growth
    approximately 0.5 point
    low materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on Q3 net revenue growth
    approximately 1.5 points
    low materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on Q3 operating expense growth
    approximately 2 points
    low materiality
    High
    Acquisition impact on Q3 EPS growth
    approximately 0.5 point
    low materiality
    High

    Segment performance

    6
    SegmentRevenueYoYQoQMargin
    U.S. Payments Volume
    Up almost 1.5 points from Q1, reflecting resilience in consumer spending, with e-commerce outpacing face-to-face spend.
    		—8%——
    U.S. Debit Payments Volume
    Up almost 1 point from Q1, with broad-based spend improvement.
    		—7%——
    U.S. Credit Payments Volume
    Up more than 2 points from Q1, with strong travel spend in both consumer and commercial.
    		—10%——
    International Payments Volume
    Year-over-year in constant dollars, generally consistent with growth over the past several quarters.
    		—10%——
    CEMEA Payments Volume
    From Q1 in constant dollars, primarily due to the conflict in the Middle East. CEMEA generally represents about 6% of total payments volume.
    		—step down of about 2.5 points——
    Commercial Payments Volume
    In constant dollars, up more than 1 point from Q1 and faster than Visa's overall payments volume growth, driven by new wins and continued cross-border strength.
    		—11%——

    Operational metrics

    19
    Total operating expenses
    17%YoY
    Q2 FY26

    Consistent with expectations, driven primarily by personnel and marketing.

    Non-operating expense
    $45 millionabove our expectations
    Q2 FY26

    Primarily due to lower cash balances and higher debt levels and interest rates than forecasted.

    Tax rate
    16.4%
    Q2 FY26

    Consistent with expectations.

    Litigation escrow funding
    $125 million
    Q2 FY26

    Has the same effect on EPS as a stock buyback.

    Remaining buyback authorization
    $13 billion
    March 2026

    At the end of March.

    New share repurchase program authorization
    $20 billion
    April 2026

    Authorized by the Board of Directors in April.

    Total buyback capacity
    approximately $33 billion
    April 2026

    After the new $20 billion authorization.

    U.S. payments volume growth
    9%YoY
    April 21, 2026

    As of April 21.

    U.S. credit volume growth
    10%YoY
    April 21, 2026

    As of April 21.

    U.S. debit volume growth
    8%YoY
    April 21, 2026

    As of April 21.

    Processed transactions growth
    8%YoY
    April 21, 2026

    As of April 21.

    Visa Direct transactions
    3.7 billionup 23% year-over-year
    Q2 FY26

    Consistent with Q1, driven by continued strength in domestic and cross-border.

    Stablecoin settlement volume
    $7 billionup more than 50% since last quarter
    annual run rate

    Growing fast.

    Visa Direct endpoints
    more than 18 billion
    current

    Largest money movement network globally.

    Visa Large Transaction Model fraud value capture
    up to a 5x increase
    early results

    Can power fraud and risk services.

    Client marketing campaign active cards lift
    10% lift
    3 months

    For a client in Latin America with nearly 20 million cards, tying exclusive FIFA tournament experiences to everyday spend.

    Client marketing campaign card count increase
    50,000 increase
    6 weeks

    For one client with a K-pop group music tour sponsorship in Asia Pacific.

    Client marketing campaign VAS revenue
    $10 million
    Q2 FY26

    Generated by Visa for delivering FIFA campaigns for a client in Latin America.

    Client marketing campaign spend increase
    nearly 30% increase
    YoY

    For one client with a K-pop group music tour sponsorship in Asia Pacific.

    Industry KPIs

    8
    MetricValueDetails
    New flows3.7 billiontransactions
    Capital returns$7.9 billionUSD
    Cross border volume11%%
    Payments volume gdv9%%
    Client incentives rebates14%%
    Cards in force credentialsover 160programs
    Value added services revenue27%%
    Switched processed transactions9%%

    Product announcements

    11
    ProductTypeDetails
    TikTok Creator Cardlaunch
    PayPay Collaborationexpansion
    X Moneylaunch
    UnionPay International / Moneyexpress Integrationexpansion
    Intelligent Commerce Connectlaunch
    Visa CLIlaunch
    Stablecoin Settlement Blockchainsexpansion
    Machine Payments Protocol Card Specificationlaunch
    Visa Large Transaction Modellaunch
    AI-enabled dispute resolution capabilitieslaunch
    Prisma and Newpay Acquisitionexpansion

    Deals & partnerships

    6
    Highnotepartnership

    Expanded agreement with fintech issuer processor Highnote to enable their 8 OTA platforms with Visa Commercial Choice for Travel, including flexible interchange, automation, controls, and reconciliation.

    Westpacpartnership

    Signed a new agreement expanding their partnership, demonstrating Pismo's potential for commercial card modernization and securing Westpac's commercial card portfolios (credit and debit for small business).

    Scotiabankpartnership

    Created a new strategic agreement across 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, consolidating their relationship and expanding into new areas of issuance focused on affluent and small businesses.

    Wells Fargocustomer contractover the coming years

    Entered into an agreement to migrate to Pismo's core account ledger as part of its core banking modernization, reflecting the strength of the partnership between Wells Fargo and Visa.

    Prismaacquisition

    Acquisition of Prisma, a credit, debit and prepaid issuer processor in Argentina.

    Newpayacquisition

    Acquisition of Newpay, a real-time payment services, bill pay and an ATM network in Argentina.

    Risks & headwinds

    3
    Middle East conflict impact on payments volumeQ2 FY26, near-term

    CEMEA payments volume growth stepped down about 2.5 points from Q1 in constant dollars. Cross-border travel-related volume was most pronounced in March.

    Mitigation: Visa's diversified business model and strength in other regions, along with continued growth in cross-border eCommerce, help offset regional impacts. Expecting improvements in U.S. and Latin America inbound travel due to FIFA.

    Ramadan timing impact on cross-border volumeApril 2026

    Impacted April cross-border volume growth.

    Mitigation: When normalized for Ramadan timing, total April cross-border volume growth was in line with February levels, indicating a temporary effect.

    Volatility impact on international transaction revenueQ2 FY26

    Volatility was below last year's levels, causing offsetting impacts on international transaction revenue despite favorable FX.

    Mitigation: Volatility was better than expected for the quarter, and assumptions are being brought back up to original guidance levels for Q3 and Q4.

    Q&A highlights

    6

    What were the biggest factors driving the significant revenue upside in Q2, and how do these factors influence the second half outlook?

    Management attributed Q2's strong performance to higher-than-expected volatility, robust growth in value-added services (VAS) driven by demand for network products and marketing services, and lower-than-expected client incentives due to deal timing and performance adjustments. These trends, particularly volatility and VAS strength, are expected to continue into Q3, contributing to a strong outlook.

    “The things that I would call out, again, are volatility. It was very low, if you recall, at the start of January when we set the guide and then it rose higher throughout the course of the quarter. It was still a drag year-over-year, but it was better than we anticipated. Secondly is our VAS business. We had strong growth again across all our portfolios.”

    asked by Tien-Tsin Huang · answered by Christopher Suh

    2 min read6 chapters

    Detailed Narrative

    01

    Strategic Growth Pillars and Momentum

    Visa's strategy is centered on four key drivers: winning in consumer, commercial, and money movement payments; expanding the addressable market through AI and agentic commerce; leveraging stablecoins and blockchain as an interoperability layer; and growing value-added services. The company reported strong momentum across these areas, with net revenue up 17% and EPS up 20% year-over-year, reflecting successful execution of its long-term growth strategy and investments in innovation.

    02

    AI and Agentic Commerce Expansion

    AI and agentic commerce are anticipated to significantly expand Visa's addressable market by accelerating the digitization of commerce, increasing transaction volumes through micro-transactions, and automating B2B payments. Visa is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend due to its extensive network, robust security, and established trust. The company has launched initiatives like Intelligent Commerce Connect and Visa CLI as proofs of concept, demonstrating its commitment to enabling secure and widely accepted payments in the evolving agentic ecosystem.

    03

    Stablecoins and On-Chain Payments Strategy

    Visa is establishing itself as a critical bridge between stablecoins and real-world applications. This includes providing on-ramps and off-ramps via stablecoin-linked Visa cards, with over 160 programs globally and payment volume growing nearly 200% year-over-year in Q2. Visa is also enabling its financial institution partners to settle with it using stablecoins, achieving a $7 billion annual run rate, and is actively participating in blockchain infrastructure as a validator on networks like Tempo and Canton.

    04

    Value-Added Services (VAS) Outperformance

    Value-added services revenue grew 27% year-over-year in constant dollars, now representing 30% of net revenue. This growth is fueled by the inextricable link between VAS and Visa's network business, enhanced by AI. The new Visa Large Transaction Model, a foundational AI model for payments, has shown up to a 5x increase in fraud value capture. Client adoption of AI-embedded services like Smarter Stand-In Processing and Visa Provisioning Intelligence has been rapid, further driving VAS growth.

    05

    Pismo and Strategic Acquisitions

    Pismo, Visa's cloud-native issuer processing platform, continues its global expansion, reaching 15 new countries since its acquisition and securing a significant agreement with Wells Fargo for core banking modernization. Additionally, Visa recently announced the acquisitions of Prisma and Newpay in Argentina, aiming to accelerate the deployment of advanced technologies like tokenization and biometric authentication, and to grow both carded and non-carded businesses in the region.

    06

    Payments Nationalism and Global Engagement

    Visa acknowledges and actively manages payments nationalism and sovereignty concerns globally, operating with local teams and infrastructure in key markets like Europe. Despite ongoing initiatives for local payment solutions, Visa maintains a strong competitive position, adding nearly 30 million cards in Europe in the past year and expecting another 30 million from closed deals, underscoring the value of its network, brand, and trust to buyers and sellers.

    AI-generated summary of the company’s earnings call. Not investment advice.