Sifting through countless of stocks in the Consumer Finance industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Synchrony Financial or American Express Company because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Synchrony Financial and American Express Company compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Synchrony Financial and American Express Company

Synchrony Financial, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer financial services company in the United States. The company provides credit products, such as credit cards, commercial credit products, and consumer installment loans. It also offers private label credit cards, dual and general purpose co-branded cards, short- and long-term installment loans, and consumer banking products; and deposit products, including certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and sweep and affinity deposits, as well as accepts deposits through third-party firms. In addition, the company provides debt cancellation products to its credit card customers through online and mobile channels; and healthcare payments and financing solutions under the CareCredit and Walgreens brands; payments and financing solutions in the apparel, specialty retail, outdoor, music, and luxury industries, such as American Eagle, Dick's Sporting Goods, Guitar Center, Pandora, Polaris, Suzuki, and Sweetwater. It offers its credit products through programs established with a group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations, and healthcare service providers; and deposit products through various channels, such as digital and print. It serves digital, health and wellness, retail, home, auto, telecommunications, pet, outdoor, and other industries. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. The company offers credit and charge cards and complementary products and services, including travel, dining, and lifestyle and expense management products and services; and banking and other payment and financing products and services, including deposits and non-card lending. It also provides merchant acquisition and processing, servicing and settlement, fraud prevention, and point-of-sale marketing and information products and services, as well as network services. The company offers its products and services to consumers, small businesses, mid-sized companies, and large corporations through mobile and online applications, affiliate marketing, customer referral programs, third-party service providers and business partners, in-house sales teams, direct mail, telephone, and direct response advertising. American Express Company was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Latest Consumer Finance and Synchrony Financial, American Express Company Stock News

As of March 31, 2026, Synchrony Financial had a $23.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Consumer Finance median of $923.9 million. Synchrony Financial’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 29.74% in the past year.

Currently, Synchrony Financial’s price-earnings ratio is 7.3. Synchrony Financial’s trailing 12-month revenue is $9.8 billion with a 36.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $9.246 per share for the current fiscal year. Synchrony Financial currently has a 1.8% dividend yield.

Currently, American Express Company’s price-earnings ratio is 19.7. American Express Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $67.0 billion with a 16.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $17.591 per share for the current fiscal year. American Express Company currently has a 1.1% dividend yield.

How We Compare Synchrony Financial and American Express Company Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Synchrony Financial and American Express Company’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Synchrony Financial and American Express Company Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Synchrony Financial	SYF	A
American Express Company	AXP	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Synchrony Financial has a Value Score of 93, which is Deep Value. American Express Company has a Value Score of 41, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: Synchrony Financial

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Synchrony Financial is considered to have better value than American Express Company. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Synchrony Financial could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Synchrony Financial and American Express Company’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Synchrony Financial	SYF	B
American Express Company	AXP	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Synchrony Financial has a Quality Score of 68, which is Strong. American Express Company has a Quality Score of 61, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Synchrony Financial and American Express Company have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Synchrony Financial and American Express Company’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Synchrony Financial	SYF	C
American Express Company	AXP	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Synchrony Financial has a Momentum Score of 47, which is Average. American Express Company has a Momentum Score of 38, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Synchrony Financial or American Express Company has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Synchrony Financial or American Express Company is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Synchrony Financial and American Express Company Grades

In addition to Momentum, Quality and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Synchrony Financial and American Express Company pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Synchrony Financial or American Express Company Stock?

Overall, Synchrony Financial stock has a Value Score of 93, Momentum Score of 47 and Quality Score of 68.

American Express Company stock has a Value Score of 41, Momentum Score of 38 and Quality Score of 61.

Comparing Synchrony Financial and American Express Company’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.