American Express Earnings Report on Deck

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component American Express (NYSE:AXP) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. American Express is a global payments, network, and travel company that offers credit card products and travel-related services to consumers and businesses on an international scale.

American Express Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for net income of $1.09 per share, a rise of 5.8% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $1.07. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has risen from $1.08 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 7% versus last year to $4.41.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 5 cents, coming in at profit of $1.15 a share versus the estimate of net income of $1.10 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 4.4% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $7.9 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between August 15, 2012 and October 11, 2012, the stock price had risen $1.81 (3.2%), from $56.66 to $58.47. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between January 6, 2012 and January 19, 2012, when shares rose for nine straight days, increasing 5.6% (+$2.68) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 3, 2012 and July 12, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 4.2% (-$2.48) over that span.

Analyst Ratings: There are 11 out of 21 analysts surveyed (52.4%) rating American Express a buy.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to build on two-straight revenue increases with this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 7.4% in the first quarter before climbing again in the second quarter.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 0.6% to $1.34 billion ($1.15 a share) from $1.33 billion ($1.10 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 3.9% to $8.52 billion from $8.2 billion.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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