American Express (AXP)

Amex vs. Visa Visa. Once international travel picks up, transaction activity will rise. Same with business travel. Visa will benefit from both. Amex also, to a certain extent. The different is that Amex offers credit, while Visa is purely transactional. So, Visa doesn't carry credit risk on those balances while Amex does. This is why Amex trades at a lower multiple. She likes the digital commerce space because it will continue to grow and replace cash, which we saw during the pandemic.

AXP vs. V vs. MA Likes the story of both V and MA. They take no credit risk, just a tollbooth. American Express is very different, as they do take on risk. We're going to a cashless society. Great growth businesses, little capital expenditure. V has lots of growth yet in Asia. Once travel starts up again, V numbers should pick up.

Difference from Visa and Mastercard is that AXP carries its own debt load. Normally, a very good company. Credit profile of clients is good. Better to go with the other two from a risk containment point of view. The same train drives all 3 companies.

Mastercard vs. Visa He owns neither, though they have performed incredibly well. Don't buy them now in this part of the cycle. He likes American Express for its much-lower valuation, and have performed well, too, but buy that only on a big pullback.

AXP vs. V vs. MA. Wouldn't touch Visa or Mastercard, because they're extremely expensive, unless they have a 50% pullback. But AXP is a whole lot cheaper on price to book. It's the only one with visible upside. But it's bang up against technical resistance at 3.5x book. Hasn't been able to get any further. Visa and Mastercard are a lot more profitable than AXP. AXP has more limited downside.