American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)

Still seems strong.

Here's the video pitch:

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/02/03/dow-stock-5-year-outlook-american-express.aspx

Babo

This company makes me physically sick with all the junk mail they send me - destroying trees, pretty much spamming my email inbox. But a great brand - truly unique feel. While having lunch with a gazillionaire once he took out his AmEx black card like Marky Mark taking out his Penisaurus Rex in Boogie Nights. These small moments are as valuable as all the research in the world on a stock.

NFC Futures

Earnings higher than normal.

the rich get richer..and the all use american express ....low default rate and the best dividend in the card market...

S&P 5 star, 1.5% dividend

Long Term outperform.

value

good valuation, buffet pick, ultra low entry point

Boring enough to outperform. No debit card nonsense. Lost in the midst of Visa and MasterCard, but better in terms of margin of safety.

This is a company with pricing power. In a world where price efficiency on seemingly competitive products is high, American Express is able to charge merchants an average of 2.89% vs 2% for bank cards .
In addition, bank card fees are split between issuers, underwriters and networks, whereas the majority of the merchant fee charged by Amex goes right to top line revenue. This is an enormous revenue advantage to American Express and they have used it to build value to business customers, arguably the he most important segment of card users. Amex continues to innovate and increase their value to business customers with discount programs at major business vendors like FedEx, terrific travel services, and cash flow management. One of their newest products is a low cost payment option that allows businesses to originate wires to overseas vendors. Amex is able to process these payments at a fraction of the cost of commercial banks and they have in house currency operations that allow them to profit on currency exchange in addition to fee income and still be a lower priced option than banks.
American Express has a ROE(return on equity) of 28.14% which is approximately double that of the industry at large. Despite the fact that it pays a dividend of 1.4%, it sports a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a below market forward P/E of 12.63 .
I see a business that has exited the financial crises in terrific shape, a management team with a clear focus on creating long term shareholder value and an economy that favors Amex’s unique services for small business especially the trend of globalization of ever smaller firms.

Historically, the credit choice for most well-heeled consumers -- who are coincidentally the same consumers not as hard hit by the soft economy. As economic outlook brightens, look for AXP to expand beyond solid fundamentals to capture additional market share of consumers who harbor negative recession-era feelings about Visa card issuers and bailout banks.

3 star chart play

P/E TOO LOW

Caters to afgfgluent consumer base which is the first to recover after a recession

Bank holding company + Credit Card fees + transaction fees + recovery =profits.

Increased consumer spending, no debit cards, small business services, low p/e and peg