Citi Upgrades American Express (AXP) to Neutral, 'Spend Growth Slowing, But Other Growth Drivers Picking Up Slack'
Citi analyst Arren Cyganovich upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) from Sell to Neutral with a price target of $154.00 (from $143.00).
The analyst comments "While we’ve seen modest slowing in spend growth, the overall spending levels remain healthy, NII and card fees are growing better than expected, and credit still remains well below pre-pandemic levels. While we continue to view 10%+ top line growth for 2024 (AXP’s aspirational target), shares pulled back recently putting less downside risk on the shares in our view. Credit quality has been much more resilient than we expected, particularly when comparing to other credit card issuers in our coverage reflecting the lack of inflation impact on the high-end consumer. With stronger loan growth and related NII, continued strong card fee growth, and lower credit loss assumptions, we are raising our 2024 EPS estimate to $11.45 from $10.57 and our target price to $154 (13.5x target multiple unchanged). With moderate upside to our revised target price, we upgrade shares to Neutral from Sell."
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Shares of American Express closed at $144.59 yesterday.