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American Express Co (American Express Co) Graham Number

: $91.71 (As of Dec. 2023)
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Graham Number is a figure that measures a stock's fundamental value by taking into account the company's earnings per share and book value per share. The Graham number is the upper bound of the price range that a defensive investor should pay for the stock. According to the theory, any stock price below the Graham number is considered undervalued, and thus worth investing in.

As of today (2024-04-18), the stock price of American Express Co is $217.67. American Express Co's graham number for the quarter that ended in Dec. 2023 was $91.71. Therefore, American Express Co's Price to Graham Number ratio for today is 2.37.

The historical rank and industry rank for American Express Co's Graham Number or its related term are showing as below:

AXP' s Price-to-Graham-Number Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 1.5   Med: 1.96   Max: 2.95
Current: 2.36

During the past 13 years, the highest Price to Graham Number ratio of American Express Co was 2.95. The lowest was 1.50. And the median was 1.96.

AXP's Price-to-Graham-Number is ranked worse than
86.28% of 379 companies
in the Credit Services industry
Industry Median: 0.83 vs AXP: 2.36

Graham Number is a combination of asset valuation and earnings power valuation. It is a very conservative way of valuing a stock.


American Express Co Graham Number Historical Data

The historical data trend for American Express Co's Graham Number can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

American Express Co Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Graham Number
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 66.26 45.25 73.34 79.32 92.50

American Express Co Quarterly Data
Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23
Graham Number Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 78.69 86.52 89.58 94.81 91.71

Competitive Comparison

For the Credit Services subindustry, American Express Co's Price-to-Graham-Number, along with its competitors' market caps and Price-to-Graham-Number data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


American Express Co Price-to-Graham-Number Distribution

For the Credit Services industry and Financial Services sector, American Express Co's Price-to-Graham-Number distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where American Express Co's Price-to-Graham-Number falls into.



American Express Co Graham Number Calculation

Graham Number is a concept based on Ben Graham's conservative valuation of companies.

American Express Co's Graham Number for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Graham Number
=sqrt of (22.5* Tangible Book per Share *EPS without NRI)
=sqrt of (22.5*33.344*11.404)
=92.50

American Express Co's Graham Number for the quarter that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Graham Number
=sqrt of (22.5*Tangible Book per Share*EPS without NRI (TTM))
=sqrt of (22.5*33.344*11.21)
=91.71

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


American Express Co  (NYSE:AXP) Graham Number Explanation

Ben Graham actually did not publish a formula like this. But he wrote in The Intelligent Investor (1948 version) regarding to the criteria for purchases:

Current price should not be more than 15 times average earnings of the past three years.

Current price should not be more than 1.5 times the book value last reported. However, a multiplier of earnings below 15 could justify a correspondingly higher multiplier of assets. As a rule of thumb we suggest that the product of the multiplier times the ratio of price to book value should not exceed 22.5. (This figure corresponds to 15 times earnings and 1.5 times book value. It would admit an issue selling at only 9 times earnings and 2.5 times asset value, etc.)

Unlike valuation methods such as DCF or Discounted Earnings, the Graham number does not take growth into the valuation. Unlike the valuation methods based on book value alone, it takes into account the earnings power. Therefore, the Graham Number is a combination of asset valuation and earnings power valuation.

In general, the Graham number is a very conservative way of valuing a stock. It cannot be applied to companies with negative book values.

American Express Co's Price to Graham number Ratio for today is calculated as

Price to Graham number=Share Price (Today)/Graham number (Q: Dec. 2023 )
=217.67/91.71
=2.37

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


Be Aware

Please keep these in mind:

1. Graham Number does not take growth into account. Therefore it underestimates the values of the companies that have good earnings growth. We feel that if the earnings per share grows more than 10% a year, Graham Number underestimates the value.
2. Graham Number punishes the companies that have temporarily low earnings. Therefore, an average of earnings makes more sense in the calculation of Graham Number.
3. Graham Numbers underestimates companies that are light with book.


American Express Co Graham Number Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of American Express Co's Graham Number provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.


American Express Co (American Express Co) Business Description

Address
200 Vesey Street, New York, NY, USA, 10285
American Express is a global financial institution, operating in about 130 countries, that provides consumers and businesses charge and credit card payment products. The company also operates a highly profitable merchant payment network. Since 2018, it has operated in three segments: global consumer services, global commercial services, and global merchant and network services. In addition to payment products, the company's commercial business offers expense management tools, consulting services, and business loans.
Executives
Jeffrey C Campbell officer: EVP, Chief Financial Officer 4333 AMON CARTER BLVD, FORT WORTH TX 76155
Douglas E. Buckminster officer: Pres, Int'l Consumer & SBS 200 VESEY STREET, M/S 01-50-01, NEW YORK NY 10285
Clayton Walter Joseph Iii director C/O APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT, INC., 9 WEST 57TH STREET, 43RD FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10019
Caillec Christophe Le officer: Chief Financial Officer 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Monique Herena officer: Chief Human Resources Officer 225 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10286
Howard Grosfield officer: President, U.S. Consumer Serv 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Quinn Jessica Lieberman officer: Controller 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Raymond Joabar officer: CRO and Pres., GRBC 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Denise Pickett officer: CRO and President, GRBC Group 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Anna Marrs officer: Pres., Global Comm. Services 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Deborah P Majoras director ONE PROCTER & GAMBLE PLAZA, CINCINNATI OH 45202
Rafael Marquez officer: President, International Card 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Theodore Leonsis director WASHINGTON CAPITALS, 627 N GLEBE RD SUITE 850, ARLINGTON VA 22203
Stephen J Squeri officer: EVP, Chief Information Officer 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285
Anre D Williams officer: Pres. Global Merchant Services 200 VESEY STREET, NEW YORK NY 10285