American Express Results: No Surprises
Courtesy of American ExpressIn line with its preliminary results released last week, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) today reported adjusted fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.09 on revenues of $8.1 billion in revenues. Last week’s pre-announcement included a…
In line with its preliminary results released last week, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) today reported adjusted fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.09 on revenues of $8.1 billion in revenues. Last week’s pre-announcement included a restructuring of the company that will include the firing of 5,400 employees and a pre-tax charge of $400 million to pay for the restructuring. As expected, net income is down 47% from the fourth quarter of 2011.
The company’s CEO said:
New technologies are changing the way businesses operate, both online and in the physical world. While this evolution is still in the early stages for our industry, it continues to open up opportunities that play to our strengths. The restructuring program we announced last week is designed to help take advantage of them, while also playing an important role in our aim of holding annual operating expense increases to less than 3 percent for the next two years.
For the full year, EPS totaled $1.01 on revenues of $31.6 billion.
For the first quarter of the new fiscal year, the consensus estimates call for EPS of $1.11 on revenue of $8.02 billion. For the 2013 fiscal year, estimates are for EPS of $4.77 on revenue of $33.33 billion.
Shares are down about 0.7% at $60.32 in after-hours trading today. The 52-week range is 48.84 to $61.97. Prior to today’s release Thomson/Reuters had a consensus price target of around $64.30 on the company’s shares.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
