American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 19, 2012. The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 98 cents per share, a rise of 4.3% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from 97 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at 98 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 18.5% versus last year to $4.04.

Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 7 cents, coming in at net income of $1.03 a share versus the estimate of profit of 96 cents a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates. On average, analysts predict $7.92 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 8.2% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $30.06 billion for the year, a rise of 8.1% from last year’s revenue of $27.82 billion.

Competitors to Watch: Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), SLM Corporation (NYSE:SLM), First Investors Financial Services Group (FIFS), and CompuCredit Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:CCRT).

Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 19, 2012. The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.53 per share, no change from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $1.49. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at $1.53 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 13% versus last year to $7.55.

Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 18 cents, coming in at net income of $1.88 a share versus the estimate of profit of $1.70 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates. On average, analysts predict $4.08 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 3% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $16.36 billion for the year, a rise of 1.2% from last year’s revenue of $16.17 billion.

Competitors to Watch: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), SLM Corporation (NYSE:SLM), Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIBC), and HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HBC).

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