In the latest close session, American Express (AXP) was up +1.03% at $346.18. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.69%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.47%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.9%.
The stock of credit card issuer and global payments company has fallen by 6.89% in the past month, lagging the Finance sector's loss of 1.46% and the S&P 500's loss of 1%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of American Express in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $3.97, indicating a 9.07% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $18.64 billion, indicating a 9.85% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $17.51 per share and revenue of $78.76 billion. These totals would mark changes of +13.85% and +9.04%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Express. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.08% upward. As of now, American Express holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, American Express currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.57. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 11.22.
Meanwhile, AXP's PEG ratio is currently 1.45. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Financial - Miscellaneous Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.93 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 80, this industry ranks in the top 33% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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American Express Company (AXP): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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