Niche markets set these leaders apart

Article Excerpt

The Finance sector offers investors a wide variety of stocks beyond banks. The best of these, such as the three we recommend below, are leaders in their niche businesses. Their strong market positions help them weather shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic to bounce back even stronger. AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $121 is a buy. The company (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 805.2 million; Market cap: $97.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) was once best known for its travelers cheques and travel-related services. Today, it’s now one of the world’s largest issuers of payment cards. Amex issues two types of cards: traditional credit cards, which let users carry a balance; and charge cards, which have no pre-set spending limit although cardholders must pay off their balances each month. The company is also a lender, and the COVID-19 pandemic exposes it to higher credit losses from customers unable to pay back loans. Even so, its more-affluent clients…