American Express Logs Big Bump in 2Q Earnings, Revenue Climbs

By Allison Prang

American Express Co. reported higher second-quarter revenue and increased earnings as spending on travel and entertainment kept improving, and the company logged credit-reserve releases.

Net income at American Express grew to $2.28 billion from $257 million a year earlier. Earnings were $2.80 a share, up from 29 cents a share. According to FactSet, analysts had been expecting $1.63 a share.

Revenue at the company, net of interest expense, rose 33% to $10.24 billion. Analysts had been expecting $9.57 billion.

The company had negative credit-loss provisions of $606 million, compared with a year earlier when its provisions were $1.56 billion.

"We saw card-member spending accelerate from the prior quarter and exceed pre-pandemic levels in June, with the largest portion of this spending growth coming from millennial, Gen Z and small-business customers," Chief Executive and Chairman Stephen Squeri said in prepared remarks. He said "travel and entertainment spending continued to improve."

"Based on current trends, we are confident in our ability to be within the high end of the range of EPS expectations we had for 2020 in 2022," Mr. Squeri added.

Write to Allison Prang at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2021 07:15 ET (11:15 GMT)

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