Piper Jaffray Raises PT To $64, Reiterates Overweight On AXP

Piper Jaffray, based upon 1Q11 results is raising the price target from $63 to $64 and reiterating its Overweight rating on American Express AXP. Says Piper Jaffray, in its report, “AXP reported 1Q11 EPS of $0.97 vs. PJC of $0.94 and consensus of $0.93. Spend growth of 17% beat our 13% estimate. Revenue growth accelerated to 7.2% from 4% last quarter, above consensus of 5.6% and should accelerate further in 2Q. AXP generated $1 billion of excess Tier 1 Capital, after dividends, in the quarter and we expect it to become more aggressive with buybacks beginning in 2Q. Loss provisions were $330m better than our model but this was more than offset by $400m higher marketing expense. AXP clarified that 2010 is a good base to target 12-15% EPS growth, suggesting Street estimates for '11/'12 are too low.” AXP closed yesterday at $47.00.