American Express vs Visa (AXP vs V)
Side by side from their SEC filings: revenue, margins, growth, returns and valuation, plus short interest, insider activity and institutional ownership.
American Express is the larger company by revenue ($41.3B vs $40.0B). Visa carries the larger market value ($695.8B vs $205.7B). Visa has grown revenue faster over the last 4 fiscal years (+65.9% cumulative vs +49.0%). American Express trades at the lower trailing P/E (18.4x vs 31.5x).
About American Express
American Express is a global payments company that issues credit and charge cards, acquires merchants, and operates a card network. It offers products and services including travel, dining, lifestyle, expense management, banking, and fraud prevention to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations worldwide. The company also partners with other businesses to co-brand cards and provide benefits, while supporting merchants with payment processing and marketing solutions.
About Visa
Visa Inc. provides digital payment processing services that facilitate secure and efficient money movement among consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments, and other organizations worldwide. Its main products include Visa-branded credit, debit, prepaid, and cash access programs used by nearly 14,500 financial institutions and accepted at over 175 million merchant locations in more than 200 countries and territories. Visa operates a global transaction processing network called VisaNet and offers value-added services such as risk management, fraud detection, and advisory solutions to support its clients.
Head to head (AXP FY2025 vs V FY2025)
| Metric | AXPFY2025 | VFY2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $41.30B | $40.00B |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 6.4% | 11.3% |
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | — | 60.0% |
| Net margin | 26.2% | 50.1% |
| Net income | $10.83B | $20.06B |
| Diluted EPS | $15.38 | — |
| FCF margin | 38.7% | 53.9% |
| ROE | 32.4% | 52.9% |
| Long-term debt / equity | 1.68× | 0.52× |
| Market cap | $205.67B | $695.82B |
| P/E | 18.4× | 31.5× |
Fundamentals are from each company’s SEC filings (AXP FY2025, V FY2025). ROE is net income over fiscal-year-end equity; long-term debt / equity counts non-current term debt only. P/E and market cap are derived from stored market prices, last retrieved on a rolling basis and typically within the past week.
Five-year trend (as reported)
| Revenue | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AXP | $27.72B | $34.22B | $37.22B | $38.83B | $41.30B |
| V | $24.11B | $29.31B | $32.65B | $35.93B | $40.00B |
Peer standing
Where each company ranks among the 425 Financials companies, on the same scale. Each figure is ranked only against peers that report it. Percentiles describe position in the distribution, not a rating.
| Metric | AXP | V |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 26.2%72nd percentile of 376 | 50.1%97th percentile of 376 |
| FCF margin | 38.7%82nd percentile of 271 | 53.9%91st percentile of 271 |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +6.4%35th percentile of 421 | +11.3%53rd percentile of 421 |
| ROE | 32.4%94th percentile of 375 | 52.9%99th percentile of 375 |
| P/E | 18.4×73rd percentile of 320 | 31.5×88th percentile of 320 |
| Long-term debt / equity | 1.68×89th percentile of 195 | 0.52×61st percentile of 195 |
| Short interest (days to cover) | 4.65d53rd percentile of 419 | 3.87d41st percentile of 419 |
Short interest
| FINRA settlement data | AXP | V |
|---|---|---|
| Shares sold short | 10.8M | 18.5M |
| Change vs prior settlement | +3.4% | -8.8% |
| Days to cover | 4.65 | 3.87 |
| As of settlement | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-15 |
Source: FINRA Consolidated Short Interest. FINRA is the owner and source of the FINRA-supplied data; republishing or redistributing it is not permitted. Not presented as a percentage of float. No FINRA endorsement of this product is implied.
Insider activity (last 90 days)
| Form 4 activity (codes P/S) | AXP | V |
|---|---|---|
| Buys | 0 | 0 |
| Sells | 1 ($3.0M) | 8 ($35.5M) |
Non-derivative purchases (code P) and sales (code S) reported on SEC Form 4, which may be open-market or private (grants, exercises and tax withholding excluded). For context, about 15% of covered companies saw any reported insider purchase (code P) in a 90-day window.
Held by the same investors
12 tracked 13F managers hold both American Express and Visa as of their latest quarterly filings: AQR Capital Management, Bridgewater Associates, Citadel Advisors, D. E. Shaw, Dodge & Cox, Giverny Capital, Gotham Asset Management, Harris Associates (Oakmark), Markel Group, Millennium Management, Renaissance Technologies, Two Sigma Investments. See which superinvestors hold your own portfolio with the smart money checker.
Go deeper
Track AXP and V
Get an alert when either company files something material, see which superinvestors own them, and ask their filings a question with cited answers.
Start monitoring freeIncludes one free filing-grounded research answer. Or check your whole portfolio, no account needed.
Data sourced from SEC EDGAR. Figures are as-reported and may be unaudited or restated; verify against the source filings before relying on them. Comparisons are descriptive (higher or lower on a reported figure), not a rating or a recommendation. Informational only. Not investment advice.