Dow Today: Walt Disney (DIS) Leads The Day Higher, American Express (AXP) Lags

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading down 6.0 points at 13,029 as of Wednesday, Sep 5, 2012, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 20.4 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 601.2 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,362 issues advancing vs. 1,158 declining with 197 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), which is sporting a 74-cent gain (+1.5%) bringing the stock to $50.40. Volume for Walt Disney currently sits at 892,758 shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 8.3 million shares.

Walt Disney has a market cap of $88.76 billion and is part of the services sector and media industry. Shares are up 31.9% year to date as of Tuesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.2%.

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an entertainment company worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.4, equal to the average media industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Walt Disney as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full Walt Disney Ratings Report.

Holding back the Dow today is American Express (NYSE:AXP), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a 48-cent decline (-0.8%) bringing the stock to $58.13. This single loss is lowering the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 3.63 points or roughly accounting for 60.5% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for American Express currently sits at 352,823 shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of five million shares.

• See our dividend calendar or top-yielding stocks list.

American Express has a market cap of $66.09 billion and is part of the financial sector and financial services industry. Shares are up 23.6% year to date as of Tuesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.4%.

American Express Company provides charge and credit payment card products, and travel-related services to worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.7, equal to the average financial services industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates American Express as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, revenue growth, notable return on equity and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full American Express Ratings Report.

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