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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 $144.60 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.16% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.38%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.5%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the credit card issuer and global payments company had lost 6.48% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's loss of 5.85% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 6.69% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from American Express as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, American Express is projected to report earnings of $2.38 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 15%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.39 billion, up 20.97% from the prior-year quarter.

AXP's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.75 per share and revenue of $50.47 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -2.69% and +19.08%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for American Express. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 0.25% lower within the past month. American Express is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that American Express has a Forward P/E ratio of 15 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.25, which means American Express is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that AXP has a PEG ratio of 1.12 right now. 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. The Financial - Miscellaneous Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.69 at yesterday's closing price.

The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 220, putting it in the bottom 14% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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