American Express Posts Mixed Financial Results

Shares of American Express (AXP) are down 3% after the credit card giant posted mixed financial results for this year’s third quarter.

New York City-based American Express reported earnings per share (EPS) of $3.49 U.S., which was well ahead of the $3.29 U.S. consensus expectation of analysts who follow the company.

Revenue for the July through September period totaled $16.64 billion U.S., which slightly missed Wall Street’s forecast of $16.68 billion U.S. Sales were up 8% from a year earlier.

The company also reported card-fee revenue growth of 18% and that it had 3.3 million new card acquisitions in Q3.

American Express added that it experienced 6% growth in card-member spending during the latest quarter, which was up from growth of 5% in the previous second quarter of the year.

In terms of guidance, American Express said that it expects $13.75 U.S. to $14.05 U.S. in earnings for all of this year.

That guidance is up from a previous EPS range of $13.30 U.S. to $13.80 U.S. Amex maintained its full-year revenue outlook that calls for 9% year-over-year growth.

American Express set aside $1.4 billion U.S. in provisions to cover potential credit losses during the third quarter, up from $1.2 billion U.S. that was set aside a year ago.

Prior to today (Oct. 18), the stock of American Express had risen 52% this year to trade at $285.78 U.S. per share.