Global payments company American Express (NYSE: AXP) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 19.4% year on year to $19.64 billion. Its GAAP profit of $4.53 per share was 2.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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American Express (AXP) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Volume: $516.8 billion (9.5% year-on-year growth)
- Revenue: $19.64 billion vs analyst estimates of $19.7 billion (19.4% year-on-year growth, in line)
- Pre-tax Profit: $4.07 billion (20.7% margin)
- EPS (GAAP): $4.53 vs analyst estimates of $4.40 (2.9% beat)
- Market Capitalization: $232.6 billion
Company Overview
Recognizable by its iconic green logo and the slogan "Don't leave home without it," American Express (NYSE: AXP) is a global payments company that issues credit and charge cards, processes merchant transactions, and offers travel and lifestyle benefits to consumers and businesses.
Revenue Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, American Express grew its revenue at a solid 13.6% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth surpassed the average financials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. American Express’s annualized revenue growth of 11.3% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, American Express’s year-on-year revenue growth was 19.4%, and its $19.64 billion of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
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Key Takeaways from American Express’s Q2 Results
It was good to see American Express beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. Zooming out, we think this was a decent quarter. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 2.7% to $331.50 immediately after reporting.
Is American Express an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
