American Express raised its 2026 revenue guidance after second-quarter revenue grew 10% to $19.6 billion, but it left full-year earnings guidance unchanged. Executives say the gap reflects new spending on customer acquisition and technology, including higher marketing outlays and the planned acquisition of restaurant-booking platform TheFork.
American Express raised its 2026 revenue outlook without lifting its earnings forecast to match, and management says the difference is going straight into new spending. The credit card company's second-quarter revenue climbed 10% year over year to $19.6 billion. Per-share income rose to $4.53 from $4.08 a year earlier. Yet it still expects only $17.30 to $17.90 in per-share earnings for 2026, the same range it gave earlier in the year.
Executives point to new spending, not a shortfall
CFO Christophe Le Caillec addressed the gap directly on the company's second-quarter earnings call, tying the unchanged earnings guidance to rising investment in new customer acquisition and technology development. He added that marketing spending could rise 10% in the second half of 2026. CEO Steve Squeri pointed to the planned acquisition of TheFork, an online restaurant reservation and management platform, as an example of the long-term growth investments the company is making, alongside ongoing technology upgrades.
Costs are already climbing
Higher spending is already showing up in the numbers. Card-member services costs grew 50% year over year to $1.95 billion last quarter. Spending on data processing and equipment rose 13% to more than $800 million. Investors reacted to the guidance mismatch by sending American Express shares down more than 4% the day the news broke.
A track record of turning spending into growth
American Express has a long-term record of converting this kind of investment into growth. Apart from pandemic-affected 2020, the company hasn't failed to grow its annualized top line in any of the past 10 years, and its revenue has more than doubled over that stretch, with profits following a more erratic but similar path. It has also topped analysts' earnings estimates in nine of the past 10 quarters.
Source: The Motley Fool
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
