Non-bank Finance stocks offer good value

Article Excerpt

A good way to diversify your Finance sector holdings is with non-banking firms such as American Express and State Street. Amex continues its successful rebound after Costco dropped it in June 2016 as the only credit card accepted at its U.S. stores. State Street is also doing a good job cutting costs. We see both as attractive buys for long-term gains. AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $127 (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 835.1 million; Market cap: $106.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) is one of the world’s largest issuers of payment cards. As of June 30, 2019, it had 114.2 million of those cards in use across 130 countries. In the quarter ended June 30, 2019, the company’s revenue rose 8.4%, to $10.8 billion from $10.0 billion a year earlier. That’s due to higher spending by cardholders as well as higher loan volumes and fee income. If you exclude the negative impact of currency rates,…