More Videos
| As of Friday, November 20th: |
LATEST EARNINGS RESULTS
- The Richest Members of the US Congress
- New Consensus Sees Stimulus Package as Worthy Step
- Black Friday Deals May Not Signal Retail Comeback
- Thanksgiving Week Stuffed With Economic News
- UPS Sets New Rates For 2010
- Wall Street Jobs Slow to Return Despite Record Profits
- Investors to Goldman: Be Less Greedy
- Victoria's Secret Hopes to Rekindle Desire for Lingerie
- 'New Moon' Takes Record $72.7M Box Office Bite
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- May Day For Dendreon
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Holiday Tipping: Who And How Much
- Deep Discounts Should Make It a Very Tech-y Holiday
MOST SHARED
- Analyze This?
- Realty Check: USDA Home Loans
- Dems Snare 60 Votes to Move Ahead on Health Care
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Health Care Bill Nears Test Vote
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Keeping America Great
- The Week Ahead
- Bove: Expect Goldman To Increase Dividend Meaningfully
Text Size 
American Express said on Monday its fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 72 percent due to higher loan losses, lower customer spending and a strengthening U.S. dollar, but results beat expectations as it slashed costs.
Earnings from continuing operations sank to $238 million, or 21 cents per diluted share, from $858 million, or 74 cents per diluted share, in the same quarter last year.
The latest results topped the average analyst expectation of 9 cents per share for earnings from continuing operations, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company offered a guarded forecast for this year. "We remain cautious about the economic outlook through 2009, and expect cardmember spending to remain soft with past-due loans and write-offs rising from current levels," Kenneth Chenault, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Net income, including discontinued operations, fell to $172 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, from $831 million, or 72 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.
Consolidated revenue fell 11 percent to $6.5 billion.
 |
U.S. net charge-offs—a measure of cardholder defaults—jumped to 6.7 percent in the fourth quarter from 5.9 percent in the third quarter.
But the company cut expenses by 15 percent in its U.S. card business as part of a plan to save $1.8 billion in its biggest restructuring since 2001.
"Our fourth quarter results reflect an operating environment that was among the harshest we have seen in decades," Chenault said.
The company, struggling with mounting credit losses and higher financing costs, changed into a bank holding company in November in order to get access to $3.39 billion in taxpayer money under the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Rivals Discover Financial Services [DFS
Loading...
()
] and Capital One Financial [COF
Loading...
()
] have said credit losses will continue to rise in 2009 as Americans struggled with a deepening recession and the highest U.S. unemployment rate in 16 years.
American Express shares [AXP
Loading...
()
] rose over 3 percent to trade above $15 in after-hours trading after closing at $15.20, down 5 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's stock has lost 14 percent in 2009.
Print
Email
- Dell Shares Smacked as Earnings, Sales Miss Forecasts
The computer maker reported financial results that were worse than last year and also fell short of Wall Street expectations, punishing the company's shares.
- Gap Reports Earnings in Line With Forecasts
Gap posted a profit that matched forecasts Thursday, though the retailer edged Wall Street's sales expectations.
- Intuit Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Loss
Intuit, maker of QuickBooks accounting software, posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss on tight cost controls, though it issued a profit outlook below Wall Street projections.
- Dell Shares Smacked as Earnings, Sales Miss Forecasts
- Sears Posts Second Consecutive Quarterly Loss
The retailer posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by the first increase in same-store sales at its Kmart unit in four years.
- Sears Posts Second Consecutive Quarterly Loss
- BJ's Wholesale Profit Falls, Hurt by Falling Food Prices
- Salesforce Profit Beats Forecasts, but Shares Fall
- Autodesk Shares Fall on Disappointing Outlook
- Home Depot Profit Beats; Says Markets Under Pressure
- Target Third Quarter Profit Up, Cautious on Fourth
- Weak US Housing Market Drags on Lowe's Profit
- JC Penney Profit Falls, but Shares Up on Forecast
- Disney Profit, Sales Top Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Nordstrom Earnings Miss Forecasts; Shares Take Hit
- Wal-Mart Holiday Forecast Light, Profit Beats
- Kohl's Profit Beats Street, But Outlook Falls Short
- Vivendi Profit Up More Than 5%, Keeps 2009 Goals
- Cost Cuts Help BT to Raise Full-Year Guidance
- Applied Materials Profit, Sales Top Wall Street Forecasts
- Macy's Loss Beats Estimates, But Shares Fall on Outlook
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes