Visa reports strong earnings, despite tough market for credit

Banks and companies like American Express (AXP) are having trouble with the credit card business because they actually loan money. Visa (V) does not. It simply acts as a middleman for the card transactions and that is still a good business, even in a tight credit environment.

Visa's net income was up 73 percent to $729 million, $0.97 per diluted class A share, for the period ended June 30. Backing out the benefits from the sale of the company's stake in VisaNet do Brasil, adjusted quarterly net income was $507 million, or $0.67. Wall Street's expectations were $0.64.