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American Express (AXP) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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American Express (AXP - Free Report) closed at $123.94 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.88% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.19% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.49%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.45%.

Coming into today, shares of the credit card issuer and global payments company had gained 27.45% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 14.25%, while the S&P 500 gained 7.68%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AXP as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.30, down 35.96% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $9.41 billion, down 17.22% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.33 per share and revenue of $36.21 billion, which would represent changes of -59.39% and -16.86%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for AXP. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.23% lower within the past month. AXP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, AXP is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 37.52. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.01.

We can also see that AXP currently has a PEG ratio of 7.88. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Financial - Miscellaneous Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.17 at yesterday's closing price.

The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 178, which puts it in the bottom 31% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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