MasterCard Inc reported higher third quarter profits on Wednesday which easily beat Wall Street estimates, on double-digit increases in volumes.

Shares rose 4.7 percent in pre-market trading on the news.

The Purchase, New York-based card processing company reported net income of $716 million, or $5.63 per share, up from $519 million, or $3.94 per share, a year before.

Analysts had estimated MasterCard would earn $4.82 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MasterCard has increased its efforts to poach U.S. business from rival Visa Inc , just as Visa is expanding its international business. Within the last year, MasterCard has signed contracts with banks like SunTrust Banks Inc to process card transactions, gaining clients that once worked with Visa.

MasterCard shares have risen 50 percent this year, bucking a broader, year-long decline in financial services stocks.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch in Charlotte, N.C., and Ben Berkowitz in New York, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)