Company Update (NYSE:AXP): American Express to trim $US1 billion

[AAP] – American Express plans to trim $US1 billion in expenses over the next two years as the credit card company continues to deal with a strong US dollar and fierce competition for its cardholders. In February 2015, warehouse chain Costco said it would end its 16-year exclusive arrangement with AmEx, changing its credit card acceptance over to Visa and changing its co-branded credit card to Citigroup. Only a few days later, the US District Court Judge ruled against American Express in a closely watched antitrust lawsuit. Read more on this. American Express Company (AXP) , with a current market cap of $61.65B, started trading this morning at $63.00. A quick look at the market, the company’s stock traded between $62.51 and $64.32 and has traded between $61.29 and $86.18 over the past year. AXP shares are currently priced at 11.94x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 13.94x earnings multiple. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $1.16 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.85%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 31 sell-side analysts are looking at $1.13 per share, which would be $0.09 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $5.28, which would be a $0.11 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $8.34 Billion. If reported, that would be a 0.60% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, DA Davidson Initiated AXP at Neutral (Jan 13, 2016). Previously, Goldman downgraded AXP from Buy to Neutral. Investors should keep in mind is that the average price target is $78.40, which is 24.44% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:AXP) Similar Articles: Stock Update: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) – American Express Will Bring Apple Pay to Card Members in Key Global Markets Company Update: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) – American Express Offers New Hilton HHonors Status Benefit to Platinum Card Members Stock Update: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) – American Express Cards® Now Accepted at Sam’s Club