American Express Co (AXP) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth and Strategic ...

Release Date: April 17, 2025

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript .

Positive Points

Negative Points

Q & A Highlights

Q : Have you seen any indication of spending pull forward, and how would you handle potential revenue volatility? A : Stephen Squeri, CEO: We haven't seen any significant pull forward in spending. While small businesses show minor pull forward, consumer spending remains consistent. We are prepared to manage expenses if revenue declines, but we prioritize long-term investments over short-term earnings targets.

Q : How would proposed tariffs impact your business, and what risk management strategies are in place? A : Stephen Squeri, CEO: Small businesses might be most affected by tariffs. We continuously adjust our risk models and focus on maintaining a premium card base with high credit scores. Our proactive risk management approach is similar to pre-COVID strategies.

Q : Can you discuss your strategy for card refreshes and fee growth in the current environment? A : Stephen Squeri, CEO: We remain committed to product refreshes, having updated over 150 products in recent years. Fee increases are tied to added value, ensuring customers receive more benefits than the fee increase. The current environment won't alter our fee strategy.

Q : How are you integrating recent acquisitions like Center into your SME technology offerings? A : Stephen Squeri, CEO: We aim to create a unified ecosystem for SMEs, integrating Center with our Kabbage platform. This will enhance our offerings, improve retention, and potentially increase organic spending. Integration will take time, but we're committed to building comprehensive solutions.

Q : How do you view the potential impact of unemployment on your revenue guidance? A : Stephen Squeri, CEO: Our guidance accounts for a peak unemployment rate of 5.7%. We focus more on white-collar unemployment, which affects our card base more significantly. Despite higher unemployment projections, we are confident in maintaining our revenue growth targets.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript .

This article first appeared on GuruFocus .