US · Financials
American Express (AXP) stock research: earnings, ownership, and cash flow
American Express operates in the Consumer Finance industry within the Financials sector and is a constituent of the S&P 500. This page connects filing evidence with ownership, insider activity, forecasts, ETFs, and peer context so each dataset can be checked against the others.
Deterministic, source-linked commentary
The current research read on AXP
American Express's latest filing sets the operating baseline. 10-Q covers CY2026Q1. quarterly revenue was $10.5B; year-over-year growth was 9.3%; operating margin was 15.6%; trailing free cash flow was $16.5B. Read together, these figures test whether scale is translating into profit and cash. Verify periods and company footnotes in the original SEC EDGAR filing.
AXP's tracked holder list shows where reported conviction is concentrated. 1 tracked managers reported $45.9B of aggregate value. Berkshire Hathaway recorded the largest measured share-count move at 0.0%. The sample is small, so it is more useful for identifying named holders than measuring broad ownership. 13F positions arrive after quarter end and exclude many shorts, cash balances, and derivatives; inspect the full holder record before drawing a conclusion.
The useful next step is to test AXP from another angle. Use institutional ownership, insider filings alongside the filing. Company facts can update before 13F positions, so align every source date and report period before treating a difference as a change in fundamentals.
Business model
Company snapshot
American Express operates in the Consumer Finance industry within the Financials sector and is a constituent of the S&P 500. The latest standardized snapshot records $40.88B of trailing revenue, $11.34B of net income, and $16.48B of free cash flow. These figures describe the reported company, while valuation and price require a separate market-data timestamp.
Operating lines
A named product, service, or operating exposure identified in the company description.
A named product, service, or operating exposure identified in the company description.
Geographic revenue mix
The current standardized filing dataset does not extract a comparable geographic revenue table for every issuer. Review the latest 10-K segment note for domestic and international mix, concentration, foreign-exchange sensitivity, and country-specific regulation.
10-Q · 2026-04-23
What the latest filing shows
Revenue for the latest standardized quarter was $10.52B, while diluted EPS was 4.28. Revenue changed 9.3% from the comparable period. Gross margin was N/A and operating margin was 15.6%. Margin direction matters because it shows whether growth is translating into operating leverage or requiring more cost to support.
Open original SEC filing13F-HR
13F institutional holdings
1 tracked institutional managers currently report AXP, representing $45.86B of aggregate value. The top five account for 100% of tracked value. This concentration is calculated only within SnowballHare's manager universe, not across every institutional owner.
Top institutional holders
| Holder | Shares | Value | Portfolio weight | QoQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway | 151,610,700 | $45.86B | 17.43% | 0.0% |
Capital and holders
Ownership structure
- Tracked 13F value: $45.86B
- Tracked active holders: 1
- Top-five concentration: 100%
- Shares outstanding: 682,326,443
Tracked 13F value is not the same as institutional ownership of float because the manager universe is intentionally limited. Insider ownership also requires the latest proxy statement and is not inferred from short Form 4 windows. This section therefore separates observed data from estimates instead of presenting false precision.
CY2026Q1
Earnings analysis
| Period | Revenue | Net income | EPS | Operating margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CY2026Q1 | $10.52B | $2.97B | 4.28 | 15.6% |
| TTM | $40.88B | $11.34B | 16.14 | 13.2% |
| CY2025 | $41.3B | $10.83B | See filing | 6.9% |
The standardized data shows revenue growth of 9.3%, an operating margin of 13.2%, and a net margin of 27.7%. Without a dedicated earnings article, the original filing remains the primary source for management guidance and expectation comparisons.
Financials
Peer comparison
| Company | TTM revenue | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Tracked holders |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AXPAmerican Express | $40.88B | 9.3% | 13.2% | 1 |
| CINFCincinnati Financial | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
| XYZBlock, Inc. | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 |
| VVisa Inc. | $41.9B | 17.1% | 61.1% | 0 |
| HOODRobinhood Markets | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 |
| TRVTravelers Companies (The) | $48.32B | 1% | 7.1% | 0 |
| MAMastercard | $33.72B | 17.1% | 56% | 0 |
AXP's 9.3% revenue growth and 13.2% operating margin should be read against peers using the same reporting definitions. A higher margin may reflect pricing power or business mix, while a lower margin can reflect investment, cyclicality, or weaker economics.
Fund ownership
ETF exposure
AXP appears among the disclosed top holdings of 1 tracked ETFs shown below. ETF weights change with price movement, rebalancing, creations, redemptions, and issuer methodology.
| ETF | AXP weight | AUM | Holdings date |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIAState Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | 3.87% | $41.86B | May 18, 2026 |
10-K · 2026-02-06
Key risk factors disclosed in the latest 10-K
The categories below are a deterministic research checklist anchored to American Express's industry and latest annual filing. They summarize areas investors should locate in Item 1A; they do not replace the company's exact legal disclosure.
- Demand and product-cycle risk: Consumer Finance can experience changing customer demand, replacement cycles, and competitive product launches that affect revenue timing.
- Competition and execution: Market share depends on product quality, pricing, distribution, innovation, and management's ability to convert investment into durable customer demand.
- Supply chain and counterparties: Supplier concentration, logistics disruption, component availability, and customer concentration can affect delivery schedules, costs, and working capital.
- Regulation and litigation: Antitrust, privacy, securities, labor, tax, environmental, and industry-specific rules may change costs or restrict products and business practices.
- Financial and market risk: Foreign exchange, interest rates, credit conditions, investment values, and capital-allocation decisions can affect reported earnings and valuation.
Shareholder returns
Dividend and buyback history
Dividend
American Express reported $2.05B of dividends paid over the trailing period and $583M in the latest standardized quarter. These are company cash outflows, not a per-share forward yield.
Share buybacks
The standardized snapshot does not currently expose a reliable repurchase authorization and share-count bridge for every issuer. Compare diluted shares outstanding across filings and read the capital-return note before concluding that buybacks reduced the share base.
Research workflow
Common research questions about AXP
Who is the largest tracked institutional holder of AXP?
Berkshire Hathaway is the largest active holder in SnowballHare's current sample, with $45.9B reported. See every named manager on the AXP ownership page.
What does recent insider activity show for AXP?
No recent Form 4 transaction appears in the current AXP window. Check the AXP Form 4 history for later company-officer or director filings.
What business does American Express operate?
American Express operates in the Consumer Finance industry within the Financials sector and is a constituent of the S&P 500. The AXP company snapshot connects that business description with reported revenue, profit, and cash flow.
How does AXP compare with a close operating peer?
AXP's revenue growth is 9.3% and its operating margin is 13.2%. Compare those figures with CINF research using the same definitions.
What do the latest financials say about AXP?
10-Q reports $40.9B of trailing revenue, with revenue growth of 9.3% and an operating margin of 13.2%. The supporting period and source are listed in the AXP filing section.
How strong is AXP's cash return profile?
American Express reported $2.1B of trailing dividends paid alongside $16.5B of free cash flow. The AXP capital-return section separates company cash outflows from a forward per-share yield.
Which reported changes matter most for the AXP outlook?
Without a dedicated forecast, the key AXP evidence is the direction of revenue, margin, cash flow, and company guidance. The AXP earnings section keeps those reported changes together.
Primary and reference data
Sources and methodology
- Filings: SEC EDGAR CompanyFacts, 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, Form 4, 13F-HR.
- Fundamentals: SEC EDGAR CompanyFacts; market references may use yfinance and Finnhub where explicitly available.
- ETF: Issuer disclosures and the locally dated ETF holdings snapshot.
Methodology: How SnowballHare parses and validates data.
Editorial standards: How research is published.
Disclaimer: Informational only; not investment, legal, or tax advice. Cross-check material facts against original filings before acting.
Reference notes
Data notes
Reporting dates
Use filing dates, report periods, and source links together for AXP. A company filing, a 13F disclosure, a Form 4 transaction, and an earnings release can describe different time windows, so the date beside each row matters before comparing signals.
Ownership context
13F rows are delayed public long-equity snapshots from a selected manager universe. They are useful for seeing which tracked institutions reported exposure, but they do not show every hedge, short position, cash balance, or trade made after the quarter ended.
Insider transactions
Form 4 activity should be read by transaction type, role, value, and remaining ownership. Open-market purchases and sales are different from grants, option exercises, gifts, or tax withholding, and the original SEC filing is still the controlling document.
Earnings and forecasts
Earnings pages and forecast pages are linked when a supported article exists. Treat those pages as context for reported numbers, guidance, margins, and scenario assumptions, then return to the table data when you need the underlying source date or filing trail.