Loan quality better than pre-COVID

Article Excerpt

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $159 is a buy. The company (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 747.2 million; Market cap: $118.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) was once best known for its travellers cheques. Today, it’s now one of the world’s largest issuers of payment cards. Amex continues to benefit from its focus on affluent clients. Despite rising interest rates, its U.S. consumer credit card delinquency rate as of July 31, 2023, was 1.1%, unchanged from a year earlier. That’s also below the pre-pandemic delinquency rate of 1.4%, even though cardholder loan balances rose 28.2% over that four-year period. Moreover, the company’s earnings will likely rise 13% to $11.14 a share in 2023, and the stock trades at a reasonable 14.3 times that estimate. The $2.40 dividend yields 1.5%. American Express is a buy. buy…