American Express (AXP) Competitors

Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) and American Express (NYSE:AXP) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, profitability, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Does the media prefer COF or AXP?

In the previous week, American Express had 21 more articles in the media than Capital One Financial. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for American Express and 12 mentions for Capital One Financial. American Express' average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Capital One Financial's score of 0.70 indicating that American Express is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Capital One Financial	4 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Express	14 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend COF or AXP?

Capital One Financial currently has a consensus price target of $171.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.00%. American Express has a consensus price target of $263.68, indicating a potential downside of 11.71%. Given Capital One Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Capital One Financial is more favorable than American Express.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capital One Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.35
American Express	4 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.16

Is COF or AXP a better dividend stock?

Capital One Financial pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. American Express pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Capital One Financial pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Express pays out 20.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in COF or AXP?

89.8% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of American Express shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Capital One Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Express shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor COF or AXP?

Capital One Financial received 42 more outperform votes than American Express when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.63% of users gave Capital One Financial an outperform vote while only 60.04% of users gave American Express an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Capital One Financial	Outperform Votes 1226 64.63%	Underperform Votes 671 35.37%
American Express	Outperform Votes 1184 60.04%	Underperform Votes 788 39.96%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, COF or AXP?

American Express has higher revenue and earnings than Capital One Financial. Capital One Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Express, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Capital One Financial	$38.43B	1.77	$4.89B	$10.59	16.87
American Express	$64.42B	3.27	$8.37B	$13.59	21.98

Which has more volatility & risk, COF or AXP?

Capital One Financial has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Express has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is COF or AXP more profitable?

American Express has a net margin of 15.32% compared to Capital One Financial's net margin of 8.80%. American Express' return on equity of 32.46% beat Capital One Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capital One Financial	8.80%	9.00%	1.11%
American Express	15.32%	32.46%	3.51%

Summary

American Express beats Capital One Financial on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.