American Express 1st-quarter profit falls 63 percent, but results beat Wall Street estimates

AmEx 1Q profit drops 63 percent, but beats Street

NEW YORK — American Express says its earnings fell 63 percent in the first three months of the year, marking a sixth-straight quarter of profit declines at the credit card lender.

But the results are better than analysts were expecting.

The New York-based company says it earned $361 million, or 31 cents per share, in the January-March period after paying preferred dividends. That compares with earnings of $985 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 18 percent to $5.93 billion.

Thomson Reuters says analysts were expecting a profit of 12 cents per share on revenue of $6.45 billion.