Global payments company American Express (NYSE: AXP) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q3 CY2025, with sales up 11.8% year on year to $13.94 billion. Its GAAP profit of $4.14 per share was 3.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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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

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Thankfully, American Express’s 12.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was solid. Its growth surpassed the average financials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. American Express’s annualized revenue growth of 9.7% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results were respectable. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, American Express reported year-on-year revenue growth of 11.8%, and its $13.94 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.7%.

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Volume

The total number of transactions and loan originations flowing through a firm is a key driver of top-line growth. Taken together, this volume is the lifeblood of financial services companies, whether traditional banks or fintech disruptors.

American Express’s volumes have grown at an annual rate of 11.3% over the last five years, a step above the broader financials industry but slower than its total revenue. When analyzing American Express’s volumes over the last two years, we can see that growth decelerated to 5.7% annually.

American Express’s volumes punched in at $479.2 billion this quarter, beating analysts’ expectations by 1.5%. This print was 8.7% higher than the same quarter last year.

Key Takeaways from American Express’s Q3 Results

It was encouraging to see American Express beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its transaction volumes outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 1.2% to $327.05 immediately after reporting.

American Express had an encouraging quarter, but one earnings result doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.