(Reuters) -American Express beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Thursday as its premium customers shrugged off fears of a slowdown to continue spending.
While U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff rhetoric had rattled some consumers during the quarter, the fallout was limited as the full scope of the hefty duties was only unveiled earlier this month.
AmEx’s longstanding focus on affluent customers could have also served as a buffer. For years, the company has used rewards and exclusive perks as a strategy to attract high-spending customers.
“Our performance across key areas, including card member spending, customer retention, demand for our premium products and credit performance, continued to be strong across our customer base, consistent with and in many cases better than what we saw in 2024,” CEO Stephen Squeri said.
The credit card giant’s profit rose 6% to $2.58 billion, or $3.64 per share, for the three months ended March 31.
Wall Street had expected the company to earn $3.46 per share, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.
Shares of the New York-based company fell 1.2% to $250 in premarket trading. They have dropped 8% since the tariffs were announced on April 2, which Trump has touted as “Liberation Day”.
Provisions for credit losses were $1.2 billion in the quarter, compared with $1.3 billion a year earlier.
Squeri said the company had seen steady spending and credit trends to date, allowing AmEx to maintain its full-year forecasts.
The company had previously said it sees revenue growing at an 8% to 10% range in 2025, while profit was expected to be between $15 and $15.50 per share.
AmEx’s total revenue jumped 7% to $17 billion in the quarter, beating an estimate of $16.94 billion.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Pooja Desai)
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