High-quality clientele gives Amex an edge

Article Excerpt

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $64 (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 951.0 million; Market cap: $60.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress .com) is one of the world’s largest issuers of payment cards; the company issues two types of these: charge cards, which have no preset spending limit and must be paid in full each month; and traditional credit cards, which let users carry a balance. Amex is also a bank that accepts deposits and makes loans. It cuts its credit risk by mainly catering to clients with above-average incomes and good credit histories. Now that the company has passed this year’s stress test, it has increased its quarterly dividend by 10.3%, to $0.32 a share from $0.29. The new annual rate of $1.28 yields 2.0%. Amex also plans to buy back up to $3.3 billion of its shares (5% of its market cap), by June 30, 2017. The company will…