American Express Co (AXP): Today's Featured Financial Services Winner

Aug 8, 2013 5:00 PM EDT

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

American Express ( AXP) pushed the Financial Services industry higher today making it today's featured financial services winner. The industry as a whole closed the day up 0.5%. By the end of trading, American Express rose $1.05 (1.4%) to $76.19 on light volume. Throughout the day, 3,268,352 shares of American Express exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 5,810,600 shares. The stock ranged in a price between $75.48-$77.27 after having opened the day at $75.79 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $75.14. Other companies within the Financial Services industry that increased today were: GAIN Capital Holdings ( GCAP), up 21.4%, Federal Agricultural Mortgage ( AGM.A), up 9.0%, Global X Silver Miners ETF ( SIL), up 8.2% and US Global Investors ( GROW), up 7.3%.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Jim Cramer's Protégé, Dave Peltier, only buys Stocks Under $10 that he thinks could potentially double. See what he's trading today with a 14-day FREE pass.

American Express Company provides charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services to customers worldwide. American Express has a market cap of $81.8 billion and is part of the financial sector. Shares are up 30.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 6 analysts that rate American Express a buy, 2 analysts rate it a sell, and 14 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates American Express as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and notable return on equity. 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.

On the negative front, CorEnergy Infrastructure ( CORR), down 10.3%, Paulson Capital ( PLCC), down 7.4%, Golub Capital BDC Inc. Class B ( GBDC), down 4.3% and KCG Holdings Inc Class A ( KCG), down 3.4% , were all laggards within the financial services industry with Charles Schwab ( SCHW) being today's financial services industry laggard.

Use our financial services section to find industry-relevant news.
Or find some new ideas from our top rated stocks lists.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the financial services industry could consider Financial Select Sector SPDR ( XLF) while those bearish on the financial services industry could consider Proshares Short Financials ( SEF).