AmEx, F5 Networks: After-Hours Trading

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of American Express (AXP) edged lower in late trades on Wednesday after the credit card company waltzed past Wall Street's expectations for its first-quarter results.

The Dow component reported earnings of $1.26 billion, or $1.07 a share, for the March-ended period, on revenue net of interest expense of $7.61 billion. The performance bested the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for a profit of $1 a share in the quarter on revenue of $7.57 billion.

The stock was last quoted at $57.75, down 29 cents, on volume of less than 200,000, according to Nasdaq.com. Based on Wednesday's regular-session close at $58.04, the shares were up 28% so far in 2012, far outpacing a year-to-date gain of 6.7% for the Dow.

"Higher cardmember spending, excellent credit metrics and disciplined expense management helped us to start 2012 with record first-quarter earnings and revenues," said Kenneth Chenault, the company's chairman and CEO. "Spending on the American Express network rose 12 percent, remaining strong throughout the quarter, both in the U.S. and internationally. Credit quality continues to be among the best we have ever experienced, and our lending portfolio continued to grow at moderate levels."

Check out TheStreet's quote page for American Express for year-to-date share performance, analyst ratings, earnings estimates and much more.

Other stocks active in the extended session included F5 Networks (FFIV), which rose 6.9% to $132.74 on volume of more than 700,000 after the company blew past earnings expectations for its fiscal second quarter; Qualcomm (QCOM), which fell 3.3% to $64.77 on volume of nearly 6.3 million after the wireless chip technology developer gave a disappointing outlook; eBay (EBAY), whose stock jumped 7% to $38.39 on volume of 2.5 million after the online auctioneer cruised to a better than expected quarterly profit because of strength in its PayPal business; and Mellanox Technologies (MLNX), which surged nearly 20% to $51.80 on volume of more than 85,000 after the company reported a non-GAAP profit of $22 million, or 51 cents a share, on revenue of $88.7 million in its first quarter, up significantly from its year-ago performance.

--Written by Michael Baron in New York.



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Michael Baron.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.