American Express profit falls 13 percent, but tops forecasts

NEW YORK — Credit card company American Express said Wednesday that its first quarter profit fell 13 percent from a year earlier, as the company continues to deal with the aftermath of losing its partnership with warehouse chain Costco.

The New York-based company said it earned $1.24 billion in the quarter, down from $1.43 billion in the same period a year earlier. American Express earned $1.34 a share compared with $1.45 a share a year ago. That beat analysts’ forecasts of $1.28 per share, according to FactSet.

The drop in profits from a year earlier mostly has to do with the fact that American Express still had the Costco co-branded credit card in 2016. That partnership ended in June. Before the divorce, Costco represented a sizeable portion of American Express’ credit card loans and its billed business. To recover, AmEx has been more aggressively marketing its products, as well as making changes to products like the Platinum Card to entice more customers.

U.S. Bank

U.S. Bancorp got off to a strong start in 2017, reporting Wednesday a 6.3 percent jump in first-quarter profit and steady loan growth.

The Minneapolis banking company, the nation’s fifth largest, continued to outpace most of its peers in key performance measures.

The company earned $1.47 billion in the first three months of the year, up from $1.39 billion in the same period a year earlier. The profit amounted to 82 cents a share, 2 cents above the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Zack’s Investment Research.

Revenue rose 5.7 percent to $5.32 billion. Noninterest revenue grew 8.4 percent to $2.32 billion, while interest revenue rose 3.7 percent to $3 billion.

Morgan Stanley

Wealth management and investment banking firm Morgan Stanley saw profits rise 74 percent in the first quarter, helped by its well-regarded trading desks.

Morgan Stanley’s wealth management arm, a part of the firm’s business that its executives have been focusing much of its energy on, also had higher profits in the quarter.

The New York-based bank said Wednesday that it earned $1.93 billion in the first quarter, or $1 a share, compared with $1.13 billion, or 55 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. The results topped analysts’ expectations of 89 cents per share, according to FactSet.

CSX

CSX Corp. on Wednesday reported first-quarter earnings of $362 million.

On a per-share basis, the Jacksonville, Floridabased company said it had profit of 39 cents. Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs, came to 51 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 43 cents per share.

The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.87 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.73 billion.