American Express downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Baird

Baird analyst David George downgraded American Express to Underperform from Neutral with an unchanged price target of $190. The analyst is curbing the firm’s enthusiasm on U.S. banks following the group’s significant outperformance and would “advocate patience and preference for regionals, but only on weakness.” Credit card stocks have outperformed the broader market in recent months along with the bank group, as funding concerns were largely non-existent, and these companies were a small few able to generate loan growth, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm now sees relatively little upside from here. Baird expects unemployment and subsequent card losses to mean revert over coming quarters and expect sales growth to moderate as the benefit of the inflation tailwind to subside.