By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- American Express (NYSE:AXP) fell 2.4% after BofA Securities pointed out the obvious -- we're not traveling, therefore, we're not spending on hotels and airlines.
Near- to medium-term billing volumes will come under pressure, particularly for purchases of airline tickets and lodging, which represented 16% of 2019 billings, analyst Kenneth Bruce said, according to StreetInsider. Bruce downgraded the stock to underperform from neutral.
"AXP is over-indexed to travel and we think prolonged travel spend weakness will weaken sentiment for the shares," Bruce said. He lowered his price target to $95 from $106. The shares currently trade around $96.56.
Bruce prefers Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) and Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), which are trading at price to earnings ratios that are lower than American Express and offer higher near-term growth in earnings per share.
American Express shares are down 23% since the start of the year. It has four buy ratings, eight holds and four sells.