V - American Express: A Better Value Than Visa?

2024-07-19 03:59:46 ET

Summary

• American Express is a major player in the credit card industry, serving a higher-class clientele and offering banking services.
• Despite being profitable, American Express has a smaller market share compared to Visa and Mastercard due to higher processing fees and limited merchant acceptance.
• Shareholders of American Express have benefited from share buybacks and steady revenue and income growth, with potential for future growth and income doubling every seven years.

Over the past couple of decades, credit cards have become increasingly ubiquitous in American society. I worked for a major grocery chain about 25 years ago, and credit cards were an anomaly in the checkout line. The vast majority of people paid with cash or check. Today, people behind check writers in a checkout lane are likely to get annoyed because swiping a card or inserting a chip is so much quicker--and people wait to fill out the check until they get a total....

For further details see: