AXP stock: buy or sell
Updated on:
Apr 22nd, 2021
2
AXP stock brief
- American Express stock moved up 1.43% to close at $147.18 on the stock market on Wednesday.
- American Express is presenting its earnings report on Friday
- The stock is configuring an uptrend pattern since last January, when it bottomed at $111.76. This rally marked a 31.69% gain
- American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides charge and credit payment card products, and travel-related services worldwide.
Should I buy American Express stock?
Even if you are a experienced or a novel trader, best trading results come from using an investing strategy that never leaves to random or subjective opinions when is the best moment to buy or sell stocks. Trading strategies are meant for helping you in the decision process of what stocks to pick and when is the best moment to buy them. At Stocks2.com, we like to use very simple but trusted and powerful trend following trading strategies. Simple things usually work the best
Is $AXP stock a buy?
Currently, American Express stock matches 2 trading strategies:
Uptrend buy setup
American Express stock continues to trend higher since last January and marked an amazing 31.69% gain. Price marked a local bottom in this uptrend at $134.73 in late March, and since then it bounced up a 9.24%. Now, it's only 2.60% away from breaking out over its last top and resume the uptrend. The new entry point is therefore at $151.01. If you decide to enter this trade, the suggested stop loss is at $135.91
| Buy setup | Buy point | Stop loss | Risk |
| Uptrend buy setup | $151.01 | $135.91 | 10.00% |
ATH buy setup
All-time Highs is always an excellent buy point for those who like to buy high and sell higher. The good point of buying at ATHs is that price doesn't have upper resistances, and usually it rises rapidly. However, there's the risk of a bulls trap that may trigger your buy order and then falls sharply. That's why a stop loss is always important. Price is now at 2.60% of all-time highs and it can breakout at any time, so if you want to trade this setup it's recommended to setup your order at $151.01. The stop loss would be placed at $135.91
| Buy setup | Buy point | Stop loss | Risk |
| ATH buy setup | $151.01 | $135.91 | 10.00% |
Should I sell American Express stock?
When you own a stock with some profit, it's really hard to decide the correct moment to sell and get your benefits. In the same way as when we have to buy shares, determining when is the best time to sell is not a fickle decision, and we must use our own trading style. When selling, as well as buying, our setups are very easy to use and are only valid for selling stocks you already own, not for shorting $AXP stock
As a rule of thumb, you should not mantain an operation that yields greater losses than those expected upon the buy. When to sell your stock must always be ruled by the stop-loss (automatic or manual)
Is it time to sell American Express stock?
In the current situation of American Express there is not any eligible sell setup, so American Express stock holders with operations in green can keep their positions
American Express ratings
In the last 30 days, 2 brokerage ratings were published for American Express. General sentiment is bullish, with 2 out of 2 posting positive outlooks
| Brokerage firm | Rating |
|---|---|
| Apr 1st, 2021 | |
| Morgan Stanley | Buy |
| Apr 5th, 2021 | |
| Wells Fargo & Company | Buy → Buy |
American Express stock analysis
American Express stock started an uptrend last January, and gained an amazing 31.69%. Rising peaks and troughs can be seen easily on a chart and how price gave very few buy points on the breakouts. Latest low was in late March, when price bounced at $134.73. Now, the price moves in a consolidation between its last top ($151.01) and its last bottom ($134.73)
SMAs overview
Supports and resistances
The current resistance levels are:
The current support levels are:
Bollinger bands
The price is moving near to the upper Bollinger band, poiting some level of overbought in recent sessions. This is not a sell signal, as price can move in these levels for many days and weeks
Relative strength index
The RSI dropped below the overbought level of 70 in early March after just crossing to the overbough zone for 1 day (weak signal). The RSI value on Wednesday was 55.88. Since RSI lost the overbought zone, American Express stock fell a 1.76%
American Express stock price history
American Express went public on Feb 21st, 1973 at $1.40 per share1. Since then, AXP stock has risen by 10,412.86%, with an average of 216.93% per year. If you had invested thousand dollars in American Express stock on Feb 1973, it would worth $105,128.57 today.
1: Adjusted price after possible price splits or reverse-splits
Price target for American Express stock
How much a stock will be priced tomorrow or next week is quite unpredictable. However, many stock price forecasts are published every day by banks, financial institutions and independent analysts.
The following table shows the price predictions posted by financial institutions in the last month. Again, these targets are not direct recommendations for small traders and must not be trusted blindly.
Averaging all price targets exposed below, the predicted price for American Express stock is $165.50. American Express closed at $147.18 on Wednesday, that is a 11.07% than the target price.
| Brokerage firm | Price target |
|---|---|
| Apr 1st, 2021 | |
| Morgan Stanley | $165.00 → $166.00 |
| Apr 5th, 2021 | |
| Wells Fargo & Company | $150.00 → $165.00 |
Earnings and financials
AXP ($AXP) posts financial report on Friday. Wall Street predicts of $1.61, compared to Q4 that was $1.76. Regarding to sales, the projections are $9.2 billion.
You must remember that the price action after the earnings release date usually has a higher volatility that may not respect your stop-loss orders.. You can obtain more details about the earnings call and the earnings reports on the Investor Relations section of its website: http://www.americanexpress.com.
Last January, American Express ($AXP) hosted the shareholders call and posted the report. AXP beat market estimates and presented of $1.76, that is a 34.35% improvement versus the estimates of $1.31. Nevertheless, reported sales of $9.4 billion were in line with market forecasts.
In comparison, the EPS for the same quarter last year was $2.03, so current EPS means a drop of -13.30%. Looking at turnover, figures went down a -8.50% compared to $103.4B year over year.American Express performance
| Company | 1m | 3m | 6m |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Express ($AXP) | 6.30% | 15.10% | 43.90% |
Please read:
The viewpoints contained in this post are personal and should not be followed as recommendations for you to buy or sell stocks. The author of this article does not have any knowledge of the individual scenarios of the reader, his or her own finances or his or her own best interests at any given time. All users should speak with their financial advisor before buying or selling any securities Comments are published for general educational reasons onlyAXP summary
| Wednesday, April 21st, 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Open | $144 |
| Close | $147.18 |
| Day range | $143.02 - $147.38 |
| Previous close | $145.1 |
| Session gain | 1.43% |
| Average true range | $3.01 |
| 50d mov avg | $141.01 |
| 100d mov avg | $130.53 |
| 200d mov avg | $115.25 |
| Earnings date | April 23rd, 2021 |