Visa says in deal talks with Visa Europe

Visa Inc. (V) is scheduled to report third quarter 2015 earnings after the bell on Thursday, July 23rd.

In May, citing sources, Bloomberg reported that talks between the two were underway but were at an early stage and could stumble over price, which is expected to be in the $15 billion to $20 billion range.

Visa shares were up about 6 percent at $76.05 in after-hours trading.

Meanwhile, Visa posted GAAP Q3 net income of $1.7 billion, or $0.69 per share, up from $1.4 billion the year before.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected earnings of 59 cents a share on revenue of $3.36 billion. Over the past 5 trading sessions the stock has gained 2.78%.

Visa has call options to buy Visa Europe shares, while the European company’s members have put options to sell their shares to Visa. Cross-border volume growth increased 8% for the three months ending June 30.

Visa still expects a full year operating margin in the mid-60s and more than $6 billion in annual free cash flow.

American Express Co., the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, said Wednesday that second-quarter profit fell 3.7 per cent as card-spending growth slowed and revenue declined. The payments processor expects revenue growth in the low double digits in constant dollar with about a foreign currency impact of 2.5 percentage points. Shares of Visa Inc. are up 10.19% year-to-date.