American Express First-Quarter Results Top Street Views; Reaffirms Full-Year Guidance
American Express (AXP) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results on Thursday, while the payments company reiterated its full-year outlook.Net income came in at $4.28 a share for the quarter ended March, up from $3.64 the year before and topping the FactSet-polled consensus of $4. Revenue, net of interest expense, improved 11% to $18.91 billion, driven by higher card member spending and increased net interest income, among other factors. The Street was looking for $18.61 billion."We had a very strong start to the year, reflecting continued momentum across our premium customer base and execution of our proven growth strategy," Chief Executive Stephen Squeri said in a statement. "Given our strong results to date, we're reaffirming our full-year 2026 guidance."American Express continues to anticipate earnings to be in a range of $17.30 to $17.90 per share on revenue growth of 9% to 10%. The average analyst estimate on FactSet is for EPS of $17.56 and sales of $79.1 billion.Revenue in the US consumer services segment climbed 11% to $9.12 billion, while international card services jumped 20% to $3.53 billion. Commercial services rose 7% to $4.32 billion, while global merchant and network services inclined 10% to $2 billion."Card Member spending grew 9% (foreign-exchange)-adjusted, the highest quarterly growth in three years, driven by strong demand and engagement with our premium products," Squeri said. "Our credit performance remained excellent."Provisions for credit losses totaled $1.25 billion, up from $1.15 billion in the prior-year period, reflecting higher net write-offs and a lower reserve release versus last year, the company said.
