American Express Co.  reported third quarter earnings that came in lower than analysts’ expectations.But the credit card company experienced a steady improvement in in current spending volumes. The company’s earnings for the three months ending in September fell -17.1% year-over-year to $1.30 per share, and was lower than the $1.25 anticipated by analysts. Revenues fell -20% to $8.8 billion, but beat analysts' estimates of $8.6 billion . The credit card group said its credit reserves grew by $665 million, leading to to around $7.2 billion as of quarter-end. “While our business continues to be significantly affected by the impacts of the pandemic, our third quarter results have increased our confidence that our strategy for managing through the current environment is the right one,” said CEO Stephen Squeri.

Mastercard  is closing its Sao Paulo, Brazil office as well as an annex location near its New York headquarters, due to Coronavirus risks. A Brazil-based employee who contracted the disease went to the annex office in Purchase, New York, earlier in the week.The Brazil office and the New York office are both undergoing a sanitization process on the advice of public health officials,, according to the company. Employees who have been in contact with the affected employee and are having symptoms will work from home for 14 days, a Mastercard spokesman told Reuters.

Credit card behemoth Visa Inc. is acquiring privately-held financial services API company Plaid for $5 billion.The purchase price is almost  double Plaid’s latest private valuation. Visa said it will finance the acquisition from cash on hand and debt issuance “at the appropriate time.” The transaction is expected to close in the next three to six months. Plaid’s technology helps developers share banking and other financial information more easily - something that could potentially bolster Visa's operations after the acquisition.

Mastercard  received price-target raises from two Wall Street analysts. In a note to clients, Nomura Instinet analyst Bill Carcache boosted his price target for the credit card company’s shares to $354 from $324.The analyst  perceives  "high secular" growth in Mastercard’s  payment networks business. Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat increased price target on Mastercard  to $355 from $300.

Mastercard reported third-quarter earnings  that beat estimates, on the back of higher credit card transactions. The financial services company’s earnings for the three months ended in September increased to $2.07 a share, (vs. $1.82 a share in the year-ago quarter).The figure was also higher compare to the year-ago quarter’s $3.9 billion. CEO Ajay Banga emphasized on the launch of “faster, more secure click-to-pay online checkout experience" as one of the key strengths of the company.

American Express reported third quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, on strengths in its card business and some other segments. The financial services company’s earnings of $2.08 a share beat analysts’ expectation of $2.03 a share.Merchant and network services revenue rose +5% to $1.7 billion. Looking ahead, the company re-iterated its fourth-quarter expected earnings-per-share growth of +8%, and expected revenue growth of +10%. For  the full-year 2019, the company expects earnings to range between $7.85 and $8.35 a share, compared to  analysts’ expectation of $8.01 a share.  

But the digital coin has come under the scrutiny of several regulators, ever since it was announced in June.Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated  that Libra raises “serious concerns regarding privacy, money laundering, consumer protection, financial stability”.

Online payment processor and portal PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) peaked at $121.48 back in July and has now fallen for four straight weeks.The weekly stochastic readings, specifically the %K reading, have dropped below the 20 level for the first time in over three years. Even during the fourth quarter selloff in the overall market, PayPal held up better than most stocks, and then when the market rallied in the first quarter the stock moved up over 25% from the December low through the end of March.

Credit card issuer and processor American Express (NYSE: AXP) has performed very well in recent years in terms of its fundamental statistics.Sales have grown by 11% per year in the last three years and they were up 9% in the second quarter. The company boasts a return on equity of 31.7%, a profit margin of 18.8%, and an operating margin of 21.3%. Looking at some valuation indicators from the Tickeron fundamental analysis overview, we see a price to book ratio of 4.35 and a P/E ratio of 14.96.

American Express Co.’s second quarter earnings surpassed analysts’ estimates, while the company reiterated its full-year profit guidance. For the three months ending in June, the financial services company reported earnings of $2.07 per share, 3 cents ahead of the Street consensus forecast.  The earnings per share was also +12.5% higher from the same period last year. The company's total revenue increased +8% to $10.8 billion, in line with analysts' estimates.The group's quarterly U.S. billed business grew +7% from the prior year to $209.2 billion, and its global bill increased +1.4% to $102.5 billion. CEO Steve Squeri indicated that there is a strong loyalty among consumers towards the company.

Ally Financial’s second quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, on the back of strong lending business. The  auto lender reported earnings per share of 97 cents (excluding certain tax benefits), which surpassed analysts’ expectations of 89 cents a share. According to the company, its retail auto loans increased to $72.3 billion from $69.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.The average yield on the retail auto loans increased to 6.58% from 6.08%, the lender said.  Furthermore, retail deposits increased by $3.2 billion, the most for a second quarter in Ally’s history. 

The European Union has accepted an offer by Visa and Mastercard to cut fees on payments made by tourists using cards issued outside the region to stave off fines and end an EU antitrust investigation.  The European Commission, says that "interchange fees" in which the merchant’s bank pays a charge to the cardholder’s bank, result in higher prices for consumers. “This, together with our January 2019 decision on Mastercard’s cross-border card payment services, will lead to lower prices for European retailers to do business, ultimately to the benefit of all consumers,” Europe’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Capital One first quarter earnings surpassed expectations. The bank holding company raked in adjusted earnings of $2.90 per share during the quarter, thereby substantially beating analysts' expectations of $2.68.Adjusted revenue of $7.08 billion also came in higher compared to the Street's $7.01 billion expectations.   Revenue, pre-provision earnings, and earnings per share all climbed from the year-ago quarter, as indicated by Capital One founder, chairman and CEO Richard D. Fairbank.

Total payment volume increased to $161 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $163 billion. Reporting for its Venmo peer-to-peer digital payment service, PayPal said that around 40 million people used it for at least one transaction in the last 12 months, contributing up to $21 billion in total payment volume in the first quarter. Looking ahead, PayPal expects revenue to range between $4.3 billion and $4.34 billion for the current quarter.For the full year, the company bumped up its earnings per share outlook to between $2.94 and $3.01.

SoftBank will invest 900 million euros ($1 billion) into German fintech firm Wirecard, as part of a strategic partnership on digital payments. Read More...

Credit card company American Express said its quarterly profit fell 5%, as it spent more on its rewards program. The company said net income fell to $1.55 billion, or $1.80 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.63 billion, or $1.86 per share, a year earlier. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.The average estimate was for earnings of $2 per share. Total revenue, excluding interest expense, rose 7% to $10.36 billion. American Express expects full-year earnings in the range of $7.85 to $8.35 per share.

French advertising giant, Publicis, is finalizing its deal to pay about $4.4 billion to Alliance Data Systems Corporation’s (ADS) Epsilon business to boost its digital marketing strategies and to help clients better personalize their advertising. According to the terms of the deal, Publicis would acquire ADS’s Epsilon business for a net purchase price of $3.95 billion after a tax step-up, with a total cash consideration of $4.4 billion.Publicis would continue to form a strategic partnership with Alliance Data’s remaining business. The deal is in response to huge growth of the digital advertising industry in recent times, as well as increasing dominance of players like Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL).

PayPal (PYPL +0.4%) introduces a service that allows customers to move money more quickly into their bank using their PayPal account. Read More...

PayPal Holdings witnessed impressive growth in its user base in 2018, with a reach of 254 million active accounts as reported in its 2018 third quarter earnings. What enabled this compelling growth? Paypal's increasing customer base indicates a growing network effect: the more value it has for existing customers, the more new users join in.This rising network effect is evident in the company's third quarter earnings report, in which the average account that had used PayPal is 36.5 times over the last year, a 9.5% year-over-year increase. This rapid growth in PayPal’s users and sales reflect the company’s unique positioning in digital payments.

The company has won approval to clear card payments in that country, which is expected to be the world's biggest card market by 2020. Other companies such as Visa and MasterCard have applied for licenses as well but are still waiting to see if approvals will be granted.The preliminary approval for AmEx allows it to process and settle payment in the domestic currency and has set up a network with Chinese joint venture partner LianLian Group. The approval is a "significant step toward opening up China's bank card market to foreign investors", said China's Central Bank, in a statement.