Will These 2 Financial Services Stocks Charge into 2023?

Quite a few financial services companies are appearing to trade at discounts. These stocks are looking like ideal candidates for a potential end-of-year Santa Clause rally.

Two stocks that come to mind are American Express AXP and Capital One Financial COF, with both still well off their 52-week highs. Let’s see if it’s time to buy these two lending and banking giants’ stocks going into 2023.

American Express (AXP)

Starting with financial services giant American Express, AXP is only down -4% YTD Vs. The S&P 500’s -19%. This has outperformed the Financial-Miscellaneous Services -22% drop. Even better, over the last five years, AXP’s total return is +72% to beat the benchmark and crush its Zacks Subindustry’s -19%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

American Express is focused on credit payment card products along with travel-related services with sales projected to climb 25% in 2022 at $52.92 billion. Fiscal 2023 sales are expected to jump another 12%.

On the bottom line, earnings are expected to decline -1% in Fiscal 2022 at $9.91 per share. This is a clear indication that operating costs have been challenging for American Express this year. However, earnings estimate revisions are slightly up from $9.87 a share 90 days ago. FY23 earnings are forecasted to jump 10% but earnings estimates have trended down over the last quarter.  

AXP is still 21% off its 52-week highs trading around $157 a share. At current levels, American Express…