Mastercard Inc. (MA.N) shares jumped after the firm’s cross-border spending held up better than larger rival Visa Inc.’s and it offered a new revenue outlook that topped analysts’ estimates.

Mastercard said it now expects adjusted revenue to grow by a percentage in the “low teens” this year, while adjusted expenses will climb by a percentage in the “high end of high single digits.” Between 2019 and 2021, revenue will grow by a percentage in the “low teens,” while profits will climb by a percentage in the “high teens.”

Mastercard also said cross-border payments volume -- a measure of cardholders’ spending abroad -- climbed 18.9 percent last year, higher than the 14.6 per cent growth in 2017. Analysts were concerned about that metric after Visa said on Wednesday that cross-border spending climbed 3 percent in the three months through December, the smallest uptick in at least five quarters, as spending in the U.S. by consumers from outside the country declined.

“Mastercard gave its initial outlook for 2019 and for the three-year period 2019 to 2021 that was better than expected,” Robert Napoli, an analyst at William Blair & Co., said in a note to clients. “Cross-border volume did not decelerate as we saw at Visa.”

Mastercard is expected to post revenue of US$16.8 billion this year, a 12 per cent increase from 2018, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Expenses are expected to climb 8.2 per cent to US$16.9 billion.

The company’s shares rose 3.6 per cent to US$211.39 at 9:43 a.m. in New York, the biggest gain among the 68 companies in the S&P 500 Information Technology Index. Visa fell 2.1 per cent to US$134.71.