Shares of American Express declined Friday after the company posted better-than-expected second-quarter profit as its mostly affluent cardholder base continued to spend in the past three months.
Amex's second-quarter net income rose to $3.11 billion from $2.88 billion a year ago. That amounted to earnings of $4.53 a share, coming in above Wall Street's expectation of $4.40. Revenue grew 10% to $19.64 billion, slightly missing the analyst consensus view of $19.69 billion, according to FactSet.
Overall cardmembers' spending, which American Express refers to as billed business, rose 9% on a foreign-exchange adjusted basis.
Looking ahead, Amex now expects full-year revenue growth of 10%, from the previous 9% to 10% view. The company maintained its 2026 profit guidance at $17.30 to $17.90 a share.
That guidance may have been a little light for investors. Shares fell 5.3% to $323.65 on Friday after ending Thursday down 2.3%.
Investors track results from the New York-based business closely because its cards are so widely used by high earners and large companies.
CEO Stephen Squeri said in the earnings release that Amex saw "stronger momentum than we expected" through the first half of the year. He added that the company has been attracting more new customers, particularly among younger generations.
"We are competing from a position of strength and generating momentum that enables us to continue investing in our differentiated membership model, which reinforce our confidence in our ability to drive sustainable growth and shareholder returns over the long term," Squeri said.
Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com
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July 24, 2026 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)
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