Visa is Making a killing on Fees

Visa is surging, and that's likely a good sign for the economy.

The credit card company reported an 11% jump in payment volume. Over $1 trillion worth of transactions were made on Visa (V) cards from October 1 to December 31. That's not too far off from the size of the total Australian economy, and that was only one quarter for the company.

Visa also announced a stock split. On March 19, investors who hold one share in the company will receive four shares. It's a common move by companies when their stock price gets too high. Visa currently trades for about $250 a share, which will make shares about $63 apiece after the split.

Fees continue to juice Visa's bottom line. Visa charges a fee on all international transactions, regardless of whether there is a currency conversion involved. Those international fees grew 9% over the prior year to $970 million. Visa also continues to expand its data processing revenue at a nearly double-digit rate.

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