American Express Co vs Synchrony Financial

American Express Co (AXP) is overvalued and Synchrony Financial (SYF) is undervalued.

Against our estimates of intrinsic value, SYF trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +34%, against -88% for AXP.

Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.

American Express Co (AXP)

Book value at 2.50x, the multiple a 34.1% return on equity justifies, blended with earnings, values the shares at $162.37; the price of $305.07 is 88% above that value.

Leak Score 75/100 on 10 of 12 signals

Synchrony Financial (SYF)

Book value at 2.18x, the multiple a 20.8% return on equity justifies, blended with earnings, values the shares at $109.41; the price of $72.67 is 34% below that value.

Leak Score 80/100 on 7 of 12 signals

MetricAXPSYF
VerdictOvervaluedUndervalued
Price$305.07$72.67
Intrinsic value$162.37$109.41
Margin of safety-88%+34%
Leak Score75/100 (10/12)80/100 (7/12)
Market cap$206.0B$23.6B
Revenue growth, 5 years16.1%8.3%
Operating margin20.9%28.5%
Net margin13.4%18.1%
Return on equity34.1%20.8%
Debt to equity1.720.97
P/E18.5x7.5x
Forward P/E15.1x7.0x
P/B6.0x1.6x
Dividend yield1.3%1.8%

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