American Express
AXP on NYSE. American Express sells payment cards, banking, and merchant services to consumers and businesses. Market value $205.3bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See cheaper Financial services stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
Yearly profit per dollar of owners' money: 34 cents. Above 10 is good.
What you pay for each dollar of net assets: $5.99.
Profit per $100 you pay: $5.58.
Quality score: 100 of 100. Price score: 34 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$304.02 a share, 4% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $290.97 to $387.49.
Dividend: 1.1% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $42.4bn | $52.9bn | $60.5bn | $65.9bn | $72.2bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.75bn | 0.73bn | 0.70bn | 0.69bn | 0.68bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positiveDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- Accounting checksDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- DebtDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 14.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 10% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $19.6 billion last quarter, up 10% on a year ago.
- Profit: $3.1 billion, up 8% on a year ago.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $15.1 billion, up from $11.1 billion.
- 3% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $16.6bn |
| December 2024 | $17.2bn |
| March 2025 | $17.0bn |
| June 2025 | $17.9bn |
| September 2025 | $18.4bn |
| December 2025 | $19.0bn |
| March 2026 | $18.9bn |
| June 2026 | $19.6bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $2.5bn |
| December 2024 | $2.2bn |
| March 2025 | $2.6bn |
| June 2025 | $2.9bn |
| September 2025 | $2.9bn |
| December 2025 | $2.5bn |
| March 2026 | $3.0bn |
| June 2026 | $3.1bn |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 23 October 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 6 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 23 October 2026
Who owns it
34 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 33 last quarter. 2,997 funds in all.
- Berkshire HathawayWarren Buffett
- Value
- $51.3bn
- Share of fund
- 17.1%
- Markel GroupTom Gayner
- Value
- $166m
- Share of fund
- 1.3%
- First Manhattan Co.First Manhattan partners
- Value
- $153m
- Share of fund
- 0.4%
- GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli
- Value
- $132m
- Share of fund
- 1.2%
- Harris Associates (Oakmark)Bill Nygren
- Value
- $69m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Cambiar InvestorsBrian Barish
- Value
- $50m
- Share of fund
- 2.2%
- Aquamarine CapitalGuy Spier
- Value
- $22m
- Share of fund
- 15.3%
- Tweedy, BrowneTweedy Browne partners
- Value
- $21m
- Share of fund
- 1.6%
- Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt
- Value
- $8m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Aristotle Capital ManagementHoward Gleicher
- Value
- $4m
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Torray Investment PartnersRobert Torray (founder)
- Value
- $664,661
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Horizon KineticsMurray Stahl
- Value
- $441,755
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb (Sequoia Fund)John Harris
- Value
- $315,249
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
Largest holders overall
- Berkshire Hathaway$51.3bn
- BlackRock$14.2bn
- Vanguard Capital Management$11.9bnAdded
- State Street$9.8bn
- JPMorgan Chase$7.0bn
- Geode Capital Management$4.7bn
- Morgan Stanley$4.4bnAdded
- Fisher Asset Management$3.2bn
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$3.0bnAdded
- Norges Bank$2.7bnNew
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
1 investor owns more than 5%.
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor5.6%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 5.6% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 11 sold $63m, $18m of it under preset trading plans.
- Herena MoniqueChief Colleague Exp. OfficerSold
- Date
- 18 August 2026
- Shares
- 8,811
- Price
- $337.41
- Value
- $3m
- McNeal Glenda GChief Partner OfficerSold
- Date
- 15 June 2026
- Shares
- 7,033
- Price
- $339.36
- Value
- $2m
- Joabar RaymondGrp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv.Sold
- Date
- 13 March 2026
- Shares
- 16
- Price
- $301.27
- Value
- $4,820
- Lieberman Quinn JessicaEVP - ControllerSold
- Date
- 6 March 2026
- Shares
- 3,032
- Price
- $300.02
- Value
- $909,661
- Joabar RaymondGrp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv.Sold
- Date
- 2 March 2026
- Shares
- 24
- Price
- $309.85
- Value
- $7,436
- Joabar RaymondGrp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv.Sold
- Date
- 19 February 2026
- Shares
- 14,000
- Price
- $340.67
- Value
- $5m
- Grosfield HowardGroup Pres., U.S. Cons. Serv.Sold
- Date
- 12 February 2026
- Shares
- 8,134
- Price
- $346.73
- Value
- $3m
- Radhakrishnan RavikumarChief Information OfficerSold
- Date
- 9 February 2026
- Shares
- 15,000
- Price
- $356.58
- Value
- $5m
- Seeger LaureenChief Legal OfficerSold
- Date
- 9 February 2026
- Shares
- 12,737
- Price
- $360.99
- Value
- $5m
- Pickett DenisePres., Enterprise Shared Serv.Sold
- Date
- 5 February 2026
- Shares
- 23,385
- Price
- $356.91
- Value
- $8m
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 August 2026 | Herena Monique Chief Colleague Exp. Officer | Sold | 8,811 | $337.41 | $3m |
| 15 June 2026 | McNeal Glenda G Chief Partner Officer | Sold | 7,033 | $339.36 | $2m |
| 13 March 2026 | Joabar Raymond Grp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv. | Sold | 16 | $301.27 | $4,820 |
| 6 March 2026 | Lieberman Quinn Jessica EVP - Controller | Sold | 3,032 | $300.02 | $909,661 |
| 2 March 2026 | Joabar Raymond Grp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv. | Sold | 24 | $309.85 | $7,436 |
| 19 February 2026 | Joabar Raymond Grp. Pres., Global Comm. Serv. | Sold | 14,000 | $340.67 | $5m |
| 12 February 2026 | Grosfield Howard Group Pres., U.S. Cons. Serv. | Sold | 8,134 | $346.73 | $3m |
| 9 February 2026 | Radhakrishnan Ravikumar Chief Information Officer | Sold | 15,000 | $356.58 | $5m |
| 9 February 2026 | Seeger Laureen Chief Legal Officer | Sold | 12,737 | $360.99 | $5m |
| 5 February 2026 | Pickett Denise Pres., Enterprise Shared Serv. | Sold | 23,385 | $356.91 | $8m |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 6 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 24 Jul 2026 and 20 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.