Mastercard Inc. reported fourth-quarter 2017 net income of $227 million, or 21 cents per share, down from $933 million, or 86 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Net income figures from the most recently completed quarter included $981 million, or 92 cents per share, in special items, primarily due to recently enacted federal tax reform.
The S&P Capital IQ GAAP EPS estimate for the quarter was $1.11.
Net revenue for the quarter increased year over year to $3.31 billion from $2.76 billion. The company attributed the revenue growth to an increase in switched transactions of 17% to 17.7 billion; a 13% increase in gross dollar volume, on a local currency basis, to $1.4 trillion; and an increase in cross-border volumes of 17% on a local currency basis.
The company's customers had issued 2.4 billion Mastercard and Maestro-branded cards as of Dec. 31, 2017.
During the quarter, Mastercard repurchased about 6.9 million shares at a cost of $1 billion. Quarter-to-date through Jan. 30, the company repurchased an additional 1.8 million shares at a cost of $287 million, which leaves $5 billion remaining under the current repurchase program.
For full year 2017, Mastercard posted net income of $3.92 billion, or $3.65 per share, down from $4.06 billion, or $3.69 per share, in 2016.
The S&P Capital IQ consensus GAAP EPS estimate for 2017 was $4.54.
