# American Express Company (AXP) — Stock CV

American Express Company is a $208B financial services company. Revenue grew 10.7% over the last year, and it keeps 15¢ of every dollar of sales as profit. It trades at 18.2× earnings — around the middle of its own history.

> American Express is a global financial institution, operating in about 130 countries, that provides consumers and businesses charge and credit card payment products. The company also operates a highly profitable merchant payment network.

## Identity

- **Ticker**: AXP
- **Sector**: Financial Services
- **Industry**: Credit Services
- **Headquarters**: NEW YORK, NY
- **Employees**: 76 800
- **Website**: https://www.americanexpress.com
- **Market cap**: $208B
- **Last price**: $308.48
- **Financial profile**: Mixed

## Vitals (TTM)

- **Revenue**: $76.0B
- **Net income**: $11.4B
- **Free cash flow**: $15.1B
- **Net debt**: $57.0B
- **P/E**: 18.2
- **Revenue growth (YoY)**: 10.7%

## Skills (profile scores, 0–100)

| Pillar | Score |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 64 |
| Growth | 77 |
| Profitability | 77 |
| Health | 40 |
| Quality | 85 |
| Moat | 56 |

## Qualifications (beginner checklist) — 10 of 11 passed

- [x] Revenue growing — +10.7% YoY
- [x] Profitable — $11.4B TTM
- [x] Profit growing — +15.9% YoY
- [x] Generates cash — $15.1B TTM
- [x] Debt under control — ~3.8y of cash flow to repay
- [x] Established company — $208B market cap
- [x] Not printing shares — -13.6% shares over ~5y
- [x] Proven track record — 10/10 profitable years
- [ ] Financially stable — Altman Z 0.8 — distress
- [x] Pays a dividend — yield 1.16%
- [x] Valuation not extreme — P/E 18.2

## Experience (career milestones)

- **FY2025** — Best year on record: $10.8B net income
- **FY2022** — Revenue crossed $50B: $52.9B for the year
- **2021** — The company's first checking account for small businesses, Kabbage Checking, was launched
- **FY2016** — Profitable every year on record: 10 consecutive profitable years in our data
- **FY2016** — Revenue already above $10B: $33.8B in first reported year
- **FY2016** — Positive free cash flow every year since: 10-year streak
- **2008** — American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of General Electric
- **Jun 30, 2006** — The first card from the partnership, the Bank of America Rewards American Express card, was released on June 30, 2006
- **1992** — American Express spun off First Data in an initial public offering
- **1987** — American Express introduced the Optima card, its first credit card product that did not have to be paid in…
- **1966** — American Express introduced the Gold Card for "big-spending members"
- **1958** — It developed its first paper charge card in 1958, gold card in 1966, green card in 1969, platinum card in 1984
- **1946** — American Express executives discussed the possibility of launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it was…
- **1891** — Berry introduced the American Express Travelers Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50
- **1850** — Founded in Buffalo in 1850, American Express opened its first headquarters in New York City at 10 Wall Street

## Strengths

- High gross margin (60.6%)
- Revenue growing 10.7% year over year
- Strong cash conversion — FCF is 19.8% of revenue
- Could repay net debt from ~0.9 years of free cash flow
- Interest covered 33.4× by operating earnings

## Watch-outs

- Altman Z-Score 0.79 — elevated financial-distress risk

## Track record

| Year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $42.4B | $8.06B | $13.1B |
| FY2022 | $52.9B | $7.51B | $19.2B |
| FY2023 | $60.5B | $8.37B | $17.0B |
| FY2024 | $65.9B | $10.1B | $12.1B |
| FY2025 | $72.2B | $10.8B | $16.0B |

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Source: https://stockcv.com/AXP — derived from company filings; may be delayed or incomplete. Information, not investment advice.