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American Express Co. yesterday reported that its cardmember net charge-off rate increased to 8.7% of card receivables in February from 8.3% in January and 7.5% in December. AmEx's 30-day delinquency rate rose to 5.3% in February from 5.1% a month earlier, according to a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A team of analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led by Richard Ramsden downgraded AmEx's stock last week to "sell" from "neutral" (CardLine, 3/16). The team predicted the company's bottom line "will be roughly break-even in 2009-2010," excluding settlement payments from Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. The analysts cited "rapidly rising credit costs, as losses ultimately could reach 10% to 12%." Also last week, Donald Fandetti of Citigroup Inc., who already had a "sell" rating on AmEx stock, cut his target price by $5, to $9 per share. The company's stock closed yesterday at $12.66 per share.
