By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) are down nearly 1.5% in pre-market trading after the financial services business reported lower-than-expected profit for its first quarter.
The company posted an EPS of $2.40, missing the analyst estimate of $2.66. Revenue for the quarter came in at $14.3 billion, ahead of the consensus estimate of $13.98B. Revenue increased by 22% year-over-year as network volume came close to $400B.
"Our first-quarter results reflect strong growth in Card Member spending and continued high engagement with our premium products, tracking with the full-year 2023 guidance we provided in January, which we are reaffirming today, for revenue growth of 15 percent to 17 percent and earnings per share of $11.00 to $11.40," said Stephen J. Squeri, chairman and chief executive officer.
American Express also reaffirmed its full-year forecast for revenue growth of 15-17% and EPS of $11.20.
Vital Knowledge analysts said the results were “strong despite the EPS miss.”
“The downside from driven by expenses/provisions while top line trends (revenue, customer spending, card acquisitions, etc.) were robust and the guidance is unchanged,” they said in a note.