American Express Profit Beats, But Revenue Misses

American Express reported quarterly earnings Wednesday thatbeat Wall Street's expectations, but its revenue fell shy of forecasts on Wednesday.

American Express
Karen Bleier | AFP | Getty Images
American Express

Following the earnings release, the credit card company's shares fell 1 percent after the closing bell. (Click here for the latest quotes for American Express.)

The company posted second-quarter earnings excluding items of $1.15 per share, up from $1.07 a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue rose 5percent to $7.97 billion from $7.62 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of $1.09 a share on $8.10 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Investors had feared that AmEx's affluent customers would have curtailed their spending because of gyrations in the stock market during the quarter.

CEO Kenneth Chenault said in a statement that spending among the company's consumer, small business and corporate card members "remained healthy despite a very uneven economy."

In the previous quarter, AmEx reported higher-than-expected earnings, reflecting sales gains in the rebounding U.S. economy.