American Express is showing "strength in uncertain times," according to Wells Fargo, which is confident in the stock following an investor meeting with Chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Campbell. "We came away with confidence in our Top Pick and believe they're very much on track to hit '23 rev guidance. We're buyers of the stock on the pullback," analyst Donald Fandetti wrote in a Tuesday note after the credit-card issuer fell almost 5% Monday. Fandetti maintained his overweight rating on American Express, and reiterated his price target of $200 per share, implying 27% upside from Monday's close. He added that despite the "turmoil" in U.S. banking following the failure of SVB and Signature Bank that spurred a broad selloff in financial stocks, American Express was confident in its business outlook. "AXP continues to benefit from investments made before and during the pandemic, such as product enhancements and greater merchant acceptance, which are driving healthy new card acquisition and consumer and small business spending," Fandetti said. "AXP recently introduced long-term, aspirational EPS growth guidance of mid-teens, and we believe shares will benefit from multiple expansion as they deliver on this target." Wells Fargo believes that American Express' advantage around small and premium business customers is strengthening, making it more difficult for its competitors to catch up. A growing international base and card fees are also adding to growth, noted Fandetti. American Express shares were up 1.8% on Tuesday before the market open. Monday's decline pared the stock's year-to-date advance to 6.7%. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
