NEW YORK (AP) — American Express is reporting that it swung to a fourth-quarter profit, helped by a lower tax rate and more spending on the company’s namesake credit cards.
The New York-based company earned $2.01 billion, or $2.32 a share, compared with a loss of $1.21 billion, or $1.42 a share, from the same period a year earlier.
Like other financial companies, American Express’ results a year ago were impacted by the passage of the new tax law, which required AmEx to make an accounting adjustment.
AmEx’s net income for the latest quarter came in well above analysts’ expectations, which were looking for the company to earn $1.80 a share, according to FactSet.
Revenue in the quarter was $10.47 billion, less than the $10.58 billion that analysts had been looking for.
