American Express Co Earnings - Q3 2026 Analysis & Highlights
AmEx reported 9% revenue growth, strong cardmember spending and fee growth, and raised its 2026 EPS outlook; the call also emphasized AI, premium-customer strategy, competitive conditions, credit quality, and capital returns.
Key financial results
Revenue was $20.1 billion, up 9% year over year; growth would have been about one percentage point higher excluding the small-business co-brand portfolio exits.
GAAP EPS was $5.42, up 31%; adjusted EPS was $4.68, up 13%, excluding the Global Business Travel Group gain and restructuring charge.
The Global Business Travel Group investment sale contributed $1.11 per share; the restructuring charge was $0.37 per share.
Net interest income grew 10%, while net card fees rose 17% FX-adjusted and remained the fastest-growing revenue line.
Business segment results
Billed business grew 8%; goods and services grew 7%, while travel and entertainment grew 10%.
U.S. consumer spending increased 9.4%, with portfolio spend retention at 99% following the U.S. Consumer Platinum refresh.
Commercial spend rose 3%, or 5% excluding co-brand portfolio exits; management cited strong performance in small business and large and multinational customers, while identifying middle market as an area for further development.
International spend grew 11%, marking 22 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth.
Airline spending increased 13%, restaurant spending rose 9%, and restaurant spending through Resy was up 18%.
Capital allocation
AmEx returned $2.2 billion to shareholders in Q3: $1.6 billion through share repurchases and $0.6 billion in dividends.
The quarter-end CET1 ratio was 10.9%, reflecting the GBTG sale gain.
Management did not provide new guidance for buybacks, dividends, or capital expenditures.
Industry trends and dynamics
Management said agentic transaction volumes remain small, but AI is changing how consumers and businesses discover, compare, decide, pay, and manage services.
Global merchant acceptance reached more than 190 million locations, up from 160 million a year earlier; outside the U.S., acceptance locations more than doubled over four years.
The timing of Amazon Prime Day and other U.S. retail promotions affected sequential spending comparisons, with impacts concentrated largely in goods and services.
Competitive landscape
Management described premium cards as a highly competitive and profitable market, naming Citi, Capital One, and Chase as participants; it said the competitive environment had not materially changed.
AmEx cited its closed-loop network, first-party data, brand, service, security, and cardmember-merchant connections as differentiators.
In commercial, management identified Ramp and Brex as competitors in the middle-market space, particularly around automation and expense management.
AmEx said its network-partner strategy is focused on smaller- to mid-sized banks and specific entities rather than larger banks.
Macroeconomic environment
Management characterized customer behavior as consistent with recent trends, citing strong and steady spending, high retention, and excellent credit performance.
The company’s downside CECL scenario assumed peak unemployment in approximately the 8% range; management said its economic scenarios had not changed in recent years.
Promotional retail-calendar timing affected quarterly comparisons, while management noted that U.S. consumer spending remained above 2024 and 2025 levels.
Growth opportunities and strategies
AmEx is applying AI across value propositions, customer acquisition, engagement, payments, and servicing, aiming to personalize membership, attract customers, increase spend, and improve service.
The company is working with OpenAI on Resy discovery and reservations in ChatGPT and an AmEx Offers plugin, and has partnered with Perplexity on AI tools for eligible business cardmembers.
For agentic payments, AmEx is developing standards and protections intended to authenticate customer intent and secure eligible purchases made by registered agents.
AmEx announced an exclusive Airbnb partnership, bringing more than 1 million listings into AmEx Travel and expanding travel benefits for eligible U.S. cardmembers.
In commercial, management cited the Center acquisition, the Nova platform, a business savings account, and corporate cash-back and expense-management capabilities as initiatives to improve its middle-market offering.
AmEx said banking services are part of its strategy to deepen customer relationships and support customer acquisition.
Financial guidance and outlook
AmEx reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance of 10% and raised reported EPS guidance to $18.30–$18.60 and adjusted EPS guidance to $17.60–$17.90.
Management said it remains confident in its mid-teens EPS growth ambition, but did not provide 2027 guidance, which it said would come in January.
Management expects VCE dollar growth to moderate significantly in Q4 as the company fully laps the Platinum refresh, with growth returning to rates more consistent with pre-refresh levels.
Management said the OCC consent-order remediation costs were not expected to affect 2027 guidance.
Credit, risk, and regulatory matters
Card balances rose 8%, net interest income grew 10%, and write-off dollars increased 3%; delinquency remained between 1.2% and 1.3% for 15 consecutive quarters.
Provision expense was $985 million, including a $211 million reserve release driven by seasonal-model enhancements.
Management attributed the 2.6% reserve rate to the increasingly premium portfolio and said newer customer vintages were performing better on credit measures.
Adjusted EPS included a legal-reserve increase of $0.51 per share, including the unreserved portion of the OCC penalty and a reserve for an unrelated anticipated settlement.
