This chart is basically the definition of a rollercoaster. AXP ripped from under 235 in April to almost 382 by December, then got absolutely smoked all the way down to around 303 in March. I'm looking at this pullback as a rare chance to buy one of the most proven compounders on the planet when the market's not feeling so optimistic. My target is 344.22 in the next two months, once the panic settles and buyers remember what kind of name this really is.
The core bull case here is that Amex's cardholder base skews ultra-premium and just doesn't react to economic jitters the way most financials do. Their spend is driven by high-income customers who keep swiping through thick and thin, and that's why their default rates stay so absurdly low even when things get wobbly. That means reliable revenue, which is exactly what you want in a sideways market.
On top of that, AXP's merchant fee model isn't getting hit the way the bears predicted. If anything, the travel and dining rebound has given them pricing power, and the market seems to have forgotten how much of their business comes from those spend categories. The digital bank arms race is sucking all the headlines but Amex is just quietly printing cash quarter after quarter.
That said, you can't ignore the risk from a genuine consumer spending crunch. If people really start cutting back, even Amex's premium crowd won't be immune, and the stock could easily retest those March lows. But with earnings coming up and the Fed signaling steady rates for now, I think the setup is there for a sharp bounce. If the company beats on volume growth, expect shorts to scramble and the narrative to flip fast.