Shares of credit-card issuer Visa (V: sentiment, chart, options) were halted in after-hours trading, just before the company released its third-quarter earnings report. For the quarter, V reported a net profit of $442 million, or 51 cents per share, on revenue of $1.6 billion. On an adjusted basis earnings rose to 59 cents per share, well above analyst expectations for 48 cents. The company also said that it sees 2008 adjusted operating margins in the mid-40% range.

Earlier today, my college Nick Perry offered up a "wait-and-see" approach to Visa ahead of the company's earnings report. According to Nick, expectations were running high on the firm prior to the announcement, and the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.42 seems to support that assessment - indicating that calls more than double puts among near-term options.

Technically speaking, V rallied more than 3% in today's trading, placing the shares within striking distance of the round-number 80 level. The stock is also looking up at its 10-week moving average, which V has not closed a week above since late June.