American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) is slated to report third quarter 2019 earnings results on Friday, October 18, before the market opens. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $2.03 per share. This compares to EPS of $1.88 reported a year ago. Sales are expected to increase nearly 8% from last year to $10.95 billion.
The financial services industry is tackling interest rate cuts and adverse economic conditions which leads to uncertainty in terms of earnings. However, strength in consumer banking and growth in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector are likely to benefit the company.
American Express has seen strength in cardmember spending and loan volumes and this trend can be expected to continue in the third quarter. The company is also likely to benefit from its business investments, such as the acquisition of digital payment automation platform, acompay, from ACOM Solutions.
In the second quarter of 2019, American Express topped revenue and earnings estimates. Revenue rose 8% to $10.8 billion while adjusted EPS increased 13% to $2.07.
Also read: Goldman Sachs Q3 2019 Earnings Report
For the full year of 2019, American Express expects reported EPS to come in the range of $7.64-8.14 and adjusted EPS to be $7.85-8.35.
Shares have gained 24% so far this year. The majority of analysts have rated the stock as Hold and it has an average price target of $127.44.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) reported their third quarter 2019 earnings results today. Goldman beat revenue estimates but missed earnings expectations. Citigroup beat earnings estimates.