Jim Cramer Blog

American Express Co., the nation's third-largest credit card brand, said Monday that record spending had fueled a 12 percent jump in profit.
The New York-based company also boosted the amount of money it has reserved for loan losses, as have many other financial services companies, to brace for an ongoing deterioration in credit quality.

Net income rose to $1.06 billion in the second quarter, or 88 cents per share, from $945 million, or 76 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Income from continuing operations also totaled 88 cents per share in the latest period, up from 78 cents per share a year ago.
The results were helped by a surge in overseas profit, and a $65 million tax benefit related to the treatment of card fee income in certain previous years.
Revenues including interest expense rose to $7.13 billion from $6.54 billion a year ago. Excluding interest expense, revenue rose to $8.20 billion from $7.29 billion.
The card and travel service company's results beat Wall Street forecasts. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial projected earnings of 86 cents per share on $7.49 billion of revenue.

Labels: American Express Company, AXP