MasterCard Inc (NYSE :MA) reported its earnings today, and the numbers look good to investors. The credit card company reported a 14% rise profit for the quarter on a year over year basis. This increase is attributed to higher consumer usage in their credit cards to make payments.

MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA) is the world’s second largest company in the credit and debit card sector. The company posted a net income of $879 million, or $7.27 per share, in this quarter. This is the third fiscal quarter for MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA), and in comparison to the same quarter last year, the company reported a net income of only $772 million, or $6.17 per share.

Investors Paid Dividend

MasterCard Inc announced a dividend of $0.60 per share to be paid out on November 8th. This is a regular quarterly dividend payable to shareholders on record as of October 9^th 2013.

Revenue Beats Estimates

According to the consensus of most analysts, MasterCard Inc (NYSE:MA) should have reported earnings of $6.94 per share and revenue of $2.13 billion. The actual number climbed above the estimates to reach $2.22 billion, which is a 16 percent increase over last year.

As of 11:10 EST this morning, the stock has risen 0.31 percent, or  about $2.32 per share to $728.00. Investors are no doubt very happy with the report for this quarter, and the holiday season is just around the corner.

Holiday Season Looks Good For Credit Card Companies

The 2011 and 2012 holiday seasons were good for MasterCard and Visa, the two largest credit card companies in the world. With more consumers choosing to swipe their cards to pay for gifts, the companies saw healthy profits.

This year looks to be promising for MasterCard and its competitors as well. The still weakened economy makes it easier to opt for a later payment date than to shell out cash for Christmas gifts. As the holidays approach, more and more people will be reaching for their credit cards, which could make MasterCard a great stock to buy this year.

Disclosure: The author has no position in the stocks mentioned in this article, and does not intend to initiate any position in the next 48 hours