Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

American Express (AXP - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $189.09, moving -0.85% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.58%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.18%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the credit card issuer and global payments company had lost 2.13% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 0.47% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.67% in that time.

American Express will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect American Express to post earnings of $2.41 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 12.04%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $11.62 billion, up 28.18% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.72 per share and revenue of $50.02 billion. These totals would mark changes of -2.99% and +18.02%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Express should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher. American Express is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note American Express's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 19.62. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.69.

Also, we should mention that AXP has a PEG ratio of 1.68. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. AXP's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.81 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, putting it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


American Express Company (AXP) - free report >>

Published in