AmericanExpress posts
Posted Jun 18th 2009 1:50PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Visa Inc. (V)
Discover Financial Services (NYSE:
DFS), a credit-card company that competes with
Visa (NYSE:
V),
MasterCard (NYSE:
MA), and
American Express (NYSE:
AXP), reported earnings for the second quarter. According to this
news summary, Discover beat expectations by posting a loss of $0.18 per share. The market thought that the loss would be as high as $0.29 per share.
If you read the actual press release, you'll see that Discover, on a reported basis, made $0.43 per share. However, we must remember that this profit included an antitrust settlement sourced to Visa and MasterCard. So, once you get rid of that money, you come up with a loss for the quarter.
Continue reading Discover Financial Services beats in Q2 -- buy the stock?
Posted May 15th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Yahoo! (YHOO), Blockbuster Inc 'A' (BBI), American Express (AXP), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF)

Not all weeks can end on an a positive note, and this week was just one of those weeks. Maybe the bulls went into hibernation, or maybe it was all just profit taking. The DJIA closed out last week at 8,574.65, so the drop to 8,273.50 shows what sort of week it was. Inflation
is still tame and the Empire Manufacturing data was actually close to positive.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell numbers:
Dow 8,273.50 -57.82 (-0.69%)
S&P 500 883.37 -9.70 (-1.09%)
Nasdaq 1,680.14 -9.07 (-0.54%)
Top Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: Profit taking to hibernating bulls (ANF, AXP, BBI, DRYS, NKE, YHOO)
Posted Apr 30th 2009 9:30AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Visa Inc. (V)
Visa (NYSE: V), whose colleagues include American Express (NYSE: AXP), MasterCard (NYSE: MA), and Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), reported a Q2 profit on Wednesday that was surprisingly strong. On an adjusted basis, earnings came in at 73 cents per share. Analysts were banking on only 64 cents per share, according to Reuters.
Quite frankly, I can see the disparity between Wall Street's thinking and the ultimate reality. I mean, the economy has been bad (to state the obvious), and people aren't spending as much. This means that they aren't using their credit cards like they used to. Ergo, you might expect Visa to post a lower number.
Continue reading Let's give Visa some credit for its Q2 performance
Posted Apr 15th 2009 4:20PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Yahoo! (YHOO), Starbucks (SBUX), General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), American Express (AXP)

Today's late-day rally had a common theme throughout the day: less-bad economic data. This went from
better housing data and CPI
not showing any deflation fears. The Beige Book was also showing that some of the 12 Fed regions are seeing a decline in the slowdown. Here are today's unofficial closing levels, which were essentially around the highs of the day:
Dow 8,029.62 +109.44 (1.38%)
S&P 500 852.06 +10.56 (1.25%)
Nasdaq 1,626.80 +1.08 (0.07%)
Top 10 Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: When 'less-bad' starts looking great (AXP, DNDN, GM, SIRI, SBUX, YHOO)
Posted Mar 6th 2009 3:20PM by Steven Halpern
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Newsletters, Citigroup Inc. (C), American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), DJIA, Stocks to Buy
"What can get this market going again?" asks Chuck Carlson. In The DRIP Investor he says, "It's helpful to understand what stocks within the Dow need to do well for the index to do well."
"Not surprisingly, IBM (NYSE: IBM), the highest-priced stock in the Dow, carries the greatest weighting at more than 9% of the index. Obviously, with such a heavy weighting in the index, IBM will need to be a decent performer for the Dow to do well going forward.
"And when you total up the exposure of IBM with the other tech stocks in the Dow - Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) - the total tech weighting in the Dow is 16%. Thus, tech stocks matter to the Dow, so it is diffcult to see the Dow sustaining a move upward without a nice rebound in the tech sector.
Continue reading What will move the Dow? A look inside the average
Posted Dec 19th 2008 4:23PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Visa Inc. (V)
I'm not the biggest fan of Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), the credit-card company that competes with MasterCard (NYSE: MA), Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V), and American Express (NYSE: AXP). I currently like Visa the best. Why? I like the brand, I like the fact that it doesn't have direct exposure to loans, and I think there's a lot of upside left to its stock price on a long-term basis (granted, the stock hasn't been strong lately). Nevertheless, I have to wonder if there might be trade potential with Discover's stock.
It's not so much the Q4 earnings. Net income from continuing operations more than doubled to $0.92 per share, something that looks great on the surface. It was helped along, however, by settlement proceeds relating to antitrust complaints against Visa and MasterCard. Not only that, but when you take a look at the consumer-confidence landscape, you'll see that it's pretty dreadful. It doesn't take too much thinking to realize that spending will be down and bad loans most likely will be up going forward. This doesn't benefit Discover. But, according to this article, government help does. Management wants access to some of the monies available in the now-famous federal rescue package. Bank-holding status, if Discover gets it, will do the trick.
This is why I see some trade potential with the stock. It rose the other day on the news, and as I am writing this now, the stock is up another 3%. If one was to play around with Discover, one should only do so temporarily, in my opinion. I think, on a longer-term basis, that either Visa or MasterCard are much better options for investing in the eventual consumer rebound (whenever that decides to happen, of course). Again, all you have to do is remember that Discover has more on the line in terms of charge-offs and loan provisions. Yes, the government can help out Discover's situation, and that will be valuable, but I still wouldn't want the company as a core member of my portfolio.
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
Posted Oct 31st 2008 9:52AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Visa Inc. (V)
Visa (NYSE: V), the famous credit and debit card business, which competes with MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and American Express (NYSE: AXP), reported results for the fourth quarter on Thursday. I came away from them feeling pretty bullish.
No, it wasn't so much the numbers as it was the fact that the credit-card concern constructed a litigation settlement with Discover (NYSE: DFS). The latter had antitrust issues with Visa, and it was a part of the company's story that bothered me. Visa will pony up almost $1.9 billion to Discover to make everything hopefully okay between the two (for more about the settlement, check out Elizabeth Harrow's post). Most of the money was already set aside in a fund in anticipation of the settlement. That's awesome.
And as for earnings, well, Visa lost money on a GAAP basis during Q4 driven by the litigation provision. But on an adjusted basis, excluding that provision and other charges, Visa earned $0.58 per diluted share. That was a penny better than Wall Street expectations.
This makes the Visa story even more attractive than it already was. Honestly, as a long-term investment, Visa should be a winner. I know the economy doesn't rule right now, but I don't think there's anyone out there who believes that credit cards are going away.
Continue reading I'm bullish on Visa
Posted Oct 21st 2008 8:20AM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Earnings reports, Good news, Consumer experience, American Express (AXP)
When American Express (NYSE: AXP) announced its financial results Monday, earnings were down from last year's but not by nearly as much as Wall Street had feared. The message in that may be that the consumer is not quite as bad off as economists believe. The company's stock moved up on the news.
American Express reported a profit from continuing operations of 74 cents per share, higher than the 59 cents per share analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted. AMEX loan write-offs rose only modestly from the second quarter to 5.9% from 5.3%
The firm's management did not have much positive to say about the next quarter, but the fact that write-offs were relatively modest and that the company's revenue was up slightly is some sign that credit card users have not died and been buried. There is still reasonable retail commerce going on, based on the Amex numbers, and the huge increase in dead beats has not materialized.
Write-offs at Amex may get worse, or not. No one would have been terribly shocked if 7% or 8% of the company's customers were well behind in payments. News of the collapse in consumer spending led many people to that conclusion.
Fortunately, things were not that bad, and Amex shareholders got a little reward.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Posted Aug 21st 2008 9:45AM by Paul Foster
Filed under: American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Options
American Express (NYSE: AXP) closed at $37.43 Wednesday. Friedman Billings Ramsey says "Considering AXP needs to roll over 32% of its total managed debt (both corporate debt and securitized debt) within the next six quarters, we believe there is a risk there could be a material increase in the funding costs for AXP and thus materially reduce profitability." AXP overall option implied volatility of 48 is above its 26-week average of 45 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger price movement.
Capital One Fin'l (NYSE: COF) closed at $41.29 Wednesday. COF October option implied volatility of 76 is above its 26-week average of 65 according to Track Data, indicating larger price movement.
Discover (NYSE: DFS), an electronic payment services company, closed at $14.59 Wednesday. DFS overall option implied volatility of 63 is above its 26-week average of 60, suggesting non-directional price movement.
MasterCard (NYSE: MA) closed at $243.32 Wednesday. MA overall option implied volatility of 43 is near its 26-week average, indicating non-directional price fluctuations.
Visa (NYSE: V) closed at $74.57 Wednesday. V September option implied volatility of 42 is near its 23-week average, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Posted Aug 7th 2008 4:05PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Citigroup Inc. (C), American Express (AXP), Amer Intl Group (AIG)

The bear came back today after a long nap. Financial stocks led the DJIA lower today on three key pieces of news, not at all tied to each. Some may call today profit taking, some might be disappointed that the ECB and UK didn't give any concessions on overnight interest rates. Oil was up over $1.00 and back over the $120 mark. But no matter how you call the day, it looked like another day of Chinese Water Torture in another bear market.
Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
D.J.I.A. 11,431.19 -224.88 -1.93%
NASDAQ 2,355.73 -22.64 -0.95%
S&P 500 1,266.14 -23.05 -1.79%
10YR T-Bond 3.935% -0.113%
52-Week LowsTop Analyst UpgradesTop Analyst DowngradesAmerican Express Company (NYSE:
AXP) was another huge loser after Moody's put the credit card operation debt on negative credit watch. As that affects some $89 Billion in securities and deposits, you know this makes people nervous even if the debt ratings agencies have proven to be as worthless as gold to a dead man. Shares were down almost 5% at $36.06 in today's final minutes.
Continue reading Closing Bell: Dow sinks almost 2%, and even the Olympics can't save financials from water torture
Posted Jul 31st 2008 2:45PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Earnings reports, Deals, American Express (AXP)

Back in 2001,
Concur Technologies, Inc., (NASDAQ:
CNQR) hit a low of 31 cents per share. At that time, investors had lost all confidence in the Internet. What's more, Concur was in an un-sexy space; that is, a provider of software to help companies with travel expenses.
But the company's CEO, Steve Singh, was still a believer and thought the market opportunity was huge.
Well, as of now, things are starting to pay off. In fact, this week, Concur
announced that it received a $251 million strategic investment from
American Express (NYSE:
AXP) at $39.25 per share. There is also a warrant to purchase an additional 1.28 million share (see more of today's
earnings news).
Continue reading American Express: Don't leave home without ... Concur
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 8:15AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, American Express (AXP), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA)
American Express (NYSE: AXP) saw a big sell-off in its shares during the after-hours session on Monday following the release of its second-quarter earnings numbers. The shares already closed down over 11%.
It isn't difficult to comprehend this one. According to Earnings.com, Wall Street was hoping for the credit company to make 83 cents per share. American Express only delivered 57 cents per share from continuing operations. Not only did the company disappoint the Street by a very wide margin, but it disappointed itself, since that 57 cents per share represents a 35% drop compared to the bottom-line results achieved a year ago.
Yep, the financial crisis is still with us. American Express needed to significantly add to its credit reserves. Management stated that the economy is having a negative effect on its cardmembers, and that previous guidance can no longer be relied on. Translation: don't buy this stock! At least, that's my opinion.
I simply can't see allocating investment funds to American Express at this point. If investors wanted to get some exposure to plastic, all they would need to do is consider Visa (NYSE: V) or MasterCard (NYSE: MA). Both of these businesses are based primarily on transactions, not on credit risk. Whenever a card is used, these businesses get a little cut. And that adds up, my friends. Granted, both of these companies sold off on Monday and have been weak lately, and they have litigation risk, but I'd at least look at them for the long-term. Over time they should do well.
American Express, however, is way off my list of potential investment ideas. Not even going near this one. Name a timeframe (e.g. year-to-date, one-year, five-year, etc.), and you'll find that the stock is down. The economy is going to have to turn sharply before I even remotely consider it.
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
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