American Express stock bounces after analyst says stock has fallen too far
American Express Co.'s stock rose 0.4% in morning trade Monday, after Oppenheimer upgraded the card issuer, saying the shares have "overshot to the downside" the challenging fundamentals the company faces. The stock plunged 12% on Friday to close at the lowest level since November 2012 after the company gave a disappointing profit outlook. Analyst Ben Chittenden raised his rating to perform, after being at underperform for the last nine months. Chittenden said he still sees headwinds for the company, as a changing competitive environment has put profitability under pressure. "Although these factors exist, we believe the current stock price reflects all of these headwinds at this time and are therefore staying on the sidelines for now," Chittenden wrote in a note to clients. Basically, he's not recommending investors buy the stock, just that the arguments for his underperform rating "have played out." The stock has tumbled 26% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed 9.2%.
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