Visa Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, as the world's largest credit card network sold its stake in Brazil's VisaNet, trimmed expenses and consumers used debit cards more.

However, the company adjusted its estimate of capital expenditure for 2009 to around $300 million from a range of $300 million to $350 million.

Net income rose 73 percent to $729 million, or 97 cents per diluted class A share, for the third quarter ended June 30.

On an adjusted basis, reflecting a normalized tax rate, restructuring and purchase amortizations, quarterly net income rose percent to $744 million, or 98 cents per diluted class A common share.

Excluding the impact from the sale of the company's stake in VisaNet do Brasil, adjusted quarterly net income was $507 million, or 67 cents per share.

On that basis, analysts expected earnings of 64 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Net operating revenue rose 2 percent to $1.6 billion, while adjusted operating expenses fell 9 percent to $804 million.

Visa's shares fell 1.9 percent at $65.50 in after-hours trading. The stock is up 30 percent in 2009.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Fall