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. “Since the lows of mid-April, we have seen a steady recovery in our overall spending volumes. In fact, we had positive year-over-year growth in non-T&E spending, which has long accounted for the large majority of our overall volumes."