American Express Gets Upgrade, 'Meaningful Upside' Says Goldman Sachs Analyst

While American Express Company AXP projects reaching its original goals set for 2020 in 2022, the company seems well-positioned to exceed these expectations, according to Goldman Sachs.

The American Express Analyst: Ryan Nash upgraded the rating for American Express from Neutral to Buy, while keeping the price target unchanged at $225.

The American Express Thesis: The company expects to reach the original 2020 goals in 2022, given the significant improvement in the economy and an uptick in consumer spending, Nash said in the upgrade note.

The guidance calls for earnings of between $8.85 and $9.25 per share, the analyst noted. He added that there seems to be significant upside to these expectations due to “the combination of accelerating consumer spend, improving SME spend (ex. corporate travel) and benign credit.”

Nash expects American Express to record earnings of around $10 per share in 2022 and “double-digit growth beyond then as the multi-year recovery in T&E as well as robust growth in Goods & Services makes up for 'lost ground' in 2020.”

“We believe a better than expected acceleration in top-line trends on the back of better spend should lead to shares outperforming over time,” he added.

AXP Price Action: Shares of American Express are down 0.11% to $168.31 at the time of publication Tuesday.