Debt burden is moderate, so it can be affected by the economic cycle.
Metrics · D/E ~172% · Current Ratio 1.55
💲Is the price expensive now?
Not cheap (fair to slightly pricey)
Because it is a good, popular company, those expectations are already priced in.
Metrics · P/E 20.4 · P/B 6.7
💡A premium-card closed-loop network at 33.8% ROE. It lends balances itself, so 1.72x D/E is normal here. Its 20.4x P/E sits upper-middle of its 10-year range.
Compiled from public financial data. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. · Source: stockanalysis (price, P/E, ROE, P/B) · SEC EDGAR (margins, FY2025) · the operating-margin field carries pretax margin, as of 2026-07-28
Business Summary · Key Value Metrics
A closed-loop payment network that issues the cards, signs the merchants, and runs the rails itself. Unlike Visa and Mastercard it lends the balances directly, taking on credit risk in exchange for interest income on top of merchant fees. Its focus on high-annual-fee premium cards has built an affluent member base. FY2025 revenue net of interest expense $72.2B, 19.1% pretax margin.
Current Price
$336.63
+0.37%+$1.24· Close 2026-07-28
Analyst Consensus Target (external reference)
$374.54
Avg. of 30 external analysts · stockanalysis (30-analyst consensus, Buy)
P/E (TTM)
20.4x
TTM · upper-middle of its band
ROE
33.8%
TTM · on average equity
Pretax Margin
19.1%
FY2025 · net of interest expense
Net Margin
15.0%
FY2025
Debt/Equity
1.72x
Current ratio 1.55 · normal for lenders
Market Cap
$227.3B
As of 2026-07-28
Economic Moat · Key Business Segments
AXP's moat is a closed-loop structure — it issues the cards, signs the merchants, and runs the network — paired with an affluent member base. Because it lends the balances directly, interest income stacks on top of merchant fees, and its high-annual-fee cards capture high-income spending. FY2025 revenue net of interest expense was $72.2B, a 9-year CAGR of +8.2%, at a 19.1% pretax margin. Card member spending rose 9% year over year in Q2 2026, the fastest pace in three years (source: SEC EDGAR 10-K, company IR).
Closed-Loop Network
It runs issuing, acquiring, and the network itself, keeping both merchant fees and interest income.
Premium Member Base
A focus on high-annual-fee cards secures spending from affluent members.
Two-Sided Merchant Pull
High-spending members attract merchants, and the merchant network attracts members.
Proprietary Credit Data
As both issuer and network it sees member transactions directly and uses them in underwriting.
10-Year Financial Trends
Revenue net of interest expense compounded at +8.2% over nine years (FY2016 $35.4B to FY2025 $72.2B), with pretax income at +6.2% and diluted EPS at +11.9% as buybacks cut the diluted share count from 940M to 700M. Only two years broke the trend: 2017, when US tax reform pushed the tax line to $4.68B and held net income to $2.75B, and 2020, when the pandemic stopped spending. Both recovered the following year (source: SEC EDGAR 10-K, company IR).
9-Year CAGR: Revenue +8.2% · Operating Income +6.2% · Net Income +8.1% · EPS +11.9%
Source: SEC EDGAR 10-K (revenue, net income, income tax, diluted EPS, equity); December closes from Yahoo Finance; price, P/E, ROE and P/B from stockanalysis. Revenue is unified on the "total revenues net of interest expense" basis that AXP itself reports (some data providers net out more). Pretax income is reconstructed as net income plus income tax and matches the reported figure for every year from 2019 to 2025. Computed P/E and ROE match stockanalysis across all five overlapping years.
Mega-Cap Value Metric Comparison
AXP lends the balances itself, so its economics differ from the pure networks Visa and Mastercard. Interest income flows into revenue while credit losses and rewards costs flow into expense, which is why its 19.1% pretax margin screens far below Visa (66.2%) and Mastercard (59.6%). In exchange its 20.4x P/E is the lowest of the three (source: stockanalysis, company filings).
Metric
★ AXP
V
MA
P/E (TTM)
20.4
32.0
32.6
Margin
19.1%
66.2%
59.6%
ROE
33.8%
61.2%
232.1%
Model
Carries credit risk
Pure network
Pure network
AXP margin = pretax (FY2025) · V and MA = operating margin (TTM) — different models, not directly comparable. Mastercard's 232% ROE reflects an equity base shrunk by buybacks. Source: stockanalysis, 2026-07-28.
Key Risk Factors (from 10-K)
●
It Carries the Credit Risk— Unlike Visa and Mastercard, AXP lends the balances directly, so when members default the loss is its own. A recession hits twice: charge-offs rise while spending falls. Net income halving from about $8.1B to $3.13B in 2020 is the precedent.Source: Company 10-K, SEC EDGAR
●
Dependence on Affluent Spending— A premium-card focus ties results to discretionary spending by high earners. Card member spending rose 9% in Q2 2026, the fastest in three years, but an asset-price correction that closes those wallets would slow growth quickly.Source: Company IR
●
Valuation in the Upper-Middle of Its Band— A 20.4x P/E sits inside its 10-year range of 12.1-33.2, and in the upper-middle of the 12.1-24.1 range once the EPS-depressed years 2017 and 2020 are excluded. It has not exceeded its own high, but it is clearly dearer than the 15x of 2022.Source: SEC EDGAR, Yahoo Finance
✦ ValueCrab Dashboard PreviewAXP $336.63 +0.37% · as of 2026-07-28
Q. What are American Express's (AXP) key value-investing metrics?P/E (TTM) 20.4, ROE 33.8%, pretax margin 19.1%, net margin 15.0%, debt/equity 1.72x, and a 9-year revenue CAGR of +8.2% (source: stockanalysis, SEC EDGAR, as of 2026-07-28).
Q. How is it different from Visa and Mastercard?Visa and Mastercard only rent out the rails; the issuing banks carry the credit risk. AXP issues the cards and lends the balances itself, so it also collects interest income — but it absorbs the loss when a member cannot pay. That is why its margins screen lower even though its revenue base is far larger.
Q. Is 1.72x debt/equity dangerous?For a lender, borrowing to lend is the business itself, so high leverage is normal. Apply a manufacturer's yardstick and every bank and card issuer fails it. What matters here is the charge-off rate and member credit quality, not the size of the debt. (This is informational and not a recommendation to buy or sell.)
Q. Why do 2017 and 2020 look so odd?In 2017 US tax reform pushed the tax line to $4.68B and held net income to $2.75B; in 2020 the pandemic stopped card spending and net income fell to $3.13B. Neither reflects a broken business — both recovered the next year. The 30x-plus P/E in those years is likewise a depressed denominator, not an expensive price.