The economy is in the tank, companies are laying off people left and right, yet credit-card giant Visa (V) manages to turn in a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter? Heck, that doesn’t even do the company or the results justice: It blew out the estimate.

Note to self: Ask wife what she’s been buying; check closet for new shoes. 

The company actually put up $0.78 a share on an adjusted basis in the period, which was a hefty $0.12 better than what the Street had been looking for. 

It appears shopaholics abroad may have helped gas the results.

While looking at the release, my eyes shot down to the income statement - I wanted to see what the company was doing to keep costs down. I was happy to see that its “Personnel” line item and its “Administrative and other” line item decreased when compared to the December ’07 period. All and all, its operating expenses came in at $773 million, well south (actually about 4.6% lower) than the $810 million it witnessed in the comparable period last year.

Management’s efforts to tighten the belt will be a big factor in helping the company weather this economic storm.

What about the future?

Per Reuters: “Visa lowered its outlook for net annual revenue growth to a high single-digit from a previous estimate of a figure in the lower end of its 11% to 15% range, amid a fall in consumer spending and a fast deterioration of the global economy.”

I don’t think that’s so bad. In fact, I figure there are a lot of companies out there that’d all but kill for that kind of growth right about now.

As an aside, take a gander at the insider data. It appears that there was a small flurry of buying activity in the December-ish time frame (with Joe Saunders, CEO and Byron Pollitt, CFO.) The purchases were at a level only a bit lower than the current share price.

My hunch is that they wouldn’t have dipped their toes in the water unless they thought they had a chance to put some coin in their pocket.

Caveat: The shares are currently up north of 9% on the news and I’m a bit reluctant (read: scared) to chase it here.

I should also point out that Visa is not alone in its glory. MasterCard (MA) handily beat expectations in its fourth quarter and I think it deserves kudos for that.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go call my wife.