Is American Express Stock a Buy?
In addition to the thumping that fintech stocks took starting in late 2021 and throughout 2022, the recent banking turmoil might cause investors to completely ignore any businesses with ties to the financial services industry. But being this closed-minded would be a flawed approach, as there are still some wonderful companies out there to look at that don't deserve to be quickly disregarded.
With that being said, a leading financial stock to consider buying right now is American Express (NYSE: AXP). Here's why this is a great business that even Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has owned for a long time.
While higher interest rates helped to boost net interest income 31% year over year in the fourth quarter, they came with a downside. American Express' card loan net write-off rate was 1.1%, up from 0.6% in Q4 2021. What's more, 1% of cardmember loan balances are over 30 days past due, up from 0.7% in the year-ago period. This has forced American Express to set aside $2.2 billion in provisions for credit losses in 2022, which is a direct hit to revenue.
Source Fool.com
