American Express (NYSE:AXP) reported fourth-quarter revenue that surpassed Wall Street expectations, driven by resilient spending from its premium cardmember base.
However, the New York-based payments giant saw its quarterly profit fall just a penny short of analyst projections as higher customer engagement costs and a refresh of its flagship Platinum cards weighed on the bottom line.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025, American Express posted net income of $2.46 billion, or $3.53 per share.
This compared to a profit of $2.17 billion, or $3.04 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
While the year-over-year growth was substantial, the result narrowly missed the $3.54 consensus estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue for the period rose to $18.98 billion, topping the $18.82 billion forecast by analysts.
The growth was fueled by a 9% increase in cardmember spending and double-digit growth in net card fees, marking the 30th consecutive quarter of such gains.
Despite the revenue strength, expenses climbed 10% to $14.5 billion, reflecting increased investments in marketing and the costs associated with premium card benefits.