3 Stocks That Look Like American Express 40 Years Ago

Financial services mainstay American Express (NYSE: AXP) dominated several markets back in the late 1970s, but times have changed, to say the least. Staying relevant in today's ever-changing world is no easy feat, but several companies, including cloud king IBM (NYSE: IBM), grocery store behemoth Kroger (NYSE: KR), and e-commerce leader Paypal (NASDAQ: PYPL) are facing similar challenges.

Tim Brugger (IBM): There was a time American Express was the preeminent credit card of the well-to-do, and its traveler's checks were a "must-have" whenever a vacation or business trip was forthcoming. Fast-forward to today, and AmEx isn't exactly a niche player in the highly competitive financial services industry, but it does seem to have lost a bit of its luster.

Though they play in entirely different sandboxes, IBM is undergoing a similar challenge as AMEX: finding its way in a transitioning marketplace. Until its recently released third-quarter earnings results, IBM stock had been under pressure due largely to the slowing growth of its strategic imperatives units, which include the cloud, cognitive computing, data security, and mobile.

Source: Fool.com