AXP vs PYPL vs V Stock Comparison

American Express, PayPal Holdings and Visa Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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AXP American Express Co
$312.92 +1.4% 1M -13.5% 1Y
Market cap
$209.97B
P/E
17.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.59B
Div. yield
1.17%
Money Center Banks Financial Services
4 wins
PYPL PayPal Holdings, Inc.
$56.09 +1.9% 1M -20.2% 1Y
Market cap
$46.95B
P/E
10.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$34.30B
Div. yield
1.00%
Payment Processing Technology
3 wins
V Visa Inc.
$401.94 +9.5% 1M +15.6% 1Y
Market cap
$716.66B
P/E
27.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$45.90B
Div. yield
0.67%
Payment Networks Financial Services
5 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Visa leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Visa 5, American Express 4, PayPal Holdings 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAXPPYPLVLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $209.97B $46.95B $716.66B V
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.2x 10.1x 27.1x PYPL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.8x 10.1x 29.1x PYPL
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +10.2% +4.4% +14.8% V
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 15.8% 13.8% — AXP
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 19.6% 14.6% — AXP
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.5x 0.5x — AXP
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.17% 1.00% 0.67% AXP
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -13.5% -20.2% +15.6% V
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +12.4%/yr -25.0%/yr +13.9%/yr V
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 26.1% 43.9% 22.2% V
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 46/100 69/100 49/100 PYPL

Percentile Scorecard

AXPPYPLV

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAXPPYPLV
Valuation 22 #282 of 360 92 #9 of 99 10 #845 of 940
Growth 39 #117 of 191 62 #36 of 94 55 #294 of 655
Profitability 67 #56 of 168 87 #13 of 90 95 #33 of 633
Financial Health 39 #107 of 175 37 #67 of 105 79 #149 of 714
Shareholder Returns 61 #134 of 341 68 #20 of 61 7 #657 of 709
Overall 46 69 49
  • AXP ranked among 368 companies in Banking
  • PYPL ranked among 109 companies in Fintech
  • V ranked among 1,003 companies in Financial Services

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAXPPYPLVSPY
1 month +1.4%+1.9%+9.5% -0.2%
3 months -7.0%-3.8%+9.5% +3.9%
6 months -0.9%+13.0%+30.0% +8.2%
Year to date -15.4%-3.9%+14.6% +12.9%
1 year -13.5%-20.2%+15.6% +12.3%
3 years +121.4%+11.3%+75.3% +87.4%
3 years, per year +30.4%+3.6%+20.6% +23.3%
5 years +79.2%-76.3%+91.5% +67.9%
5 years, per year +12.4%-25.0%+13.9% +10.9%
10 years +367.5%+34.5%+390.6% +261.1%
10 years, per year +16.7%+3.0%+17.2% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAXPPYPLVSPY
Volatility, 1Y 26.1%43.9%22.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 29.8%48.4%19.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.931.020.28 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.52-0.460.70 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -32.0%-83.5%-24.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -18.7%-23.2%-3.0% -1.2%
52-week high $384.89$73.02$414.26 $779.14
52-week low $292.27$39.08$295.52 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAXPPYPLV
P/E now vs peer median 17.2xmedian 12.1x 10.1xmedian 20.0x 27.1xmedian 13.0x
P/S now vs peer median 2.7xmedian 3.4x 1.4xmedian 2.3x 15.6xmedian 3.2x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.8xmedian 5.0x 7.4xmedian 17.5x —median 7.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 15.1xmedian 10.9x 7.5xmedian 15.9x 31.1xmedian 10.8x
P/B now vs peer median 5.9xmedian 1.2x 2.4xmedian 2.0x 19.8xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.93median 1.34 0.59median 1.03 —median 0.87

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAXPPYPLV
Revenue $77.59B $34.30B $45.90B
Operating income – $5.83B $28.11B
Net income $12.26B $4.73B $23.50B
Free cash flow $13.91B $6.30B –
R&D – $3.28B –
EPS (diluted) $18.18 $5.51 –
Cash & equivalents $43.20B $7.16B $12.94B
Total debt $59.95B $13.47B –
Shares (diluted) 674.00M 858.00M 1.90B
Enterprise value $9.45B $5.65B $716.66B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAXPPYPLV
P/E 17.2x 10.1x 27.1x
P/FCF 15.1x 7.5x 31.1x
P/Operating cash flow 11.9x 6.6x 30.2x
P/S 2.7x 1.4x 15.6x
P/B 5.9x 2.4x 19.8x
P/Tangible book 5.9x 2.4x 82.0x
EV/EBITDA 8.8x 7.4x –
EV/EBIT 9.5x 8.6x –
EV/Revenue 2.9x 1.5x 15.6x
EV/FCF 15.9x 8.0x –
EV/Operating cash flow 12.6x 7.1x 30.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.93 0.59 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAXPPYPLV
Revenue growth (1Y) 10.2% 4.4% 14.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 9.6% 5.6% 12.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – –
Operating income growth (1Y) – -2.8% 17.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 8.6% 10.2%
Net income growth (1Y) 16.3% -3.9% 17.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 15.2% 7.9% 10.8%
EPS growth (1Y) 19.5% 7.6% –
EPS CAGR (3Y) 18.5% 17.1% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -16.6% 10.4% 2.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -4.5% 22.9% 4.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -26.6% 13.2% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -9.2% 25.5% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAXPPYPLV
Gross margin – – –
EBITDA margin 32.6% 19.8% –
Operating margin – 17.0% –
Pretax margin 19.9% 16.6% –
Net margin 15.8% 13.8% –
FCF margin 17.9% 18.4% –
Operating cash flow margin 22.7% 20.7% 51.7%
Return on equity 35.0% 24.1% 65.9%
Return on assets 4.0% 5.8% 24.9%
Return on invested capital 19.6% 14.6% –
Return on capital employed – 17.0% –
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.4x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 1.5x 1.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 2.8% 2.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAXPPYPLV
Debt / assets 19.3% 16.5% –
Debt / equity 1.7x 0.7x –
Net debt / EBITDA 0.5x 0.5x –
Debt / FCF 4.3x 2.1x –
Liabilities / assets 88.5% 76.1% 61.7%
Equity / assets 11.5% 23.9% 38.3%
Interest coverage 3.0x – –
Current ratio – 1.3x 1.0x
Quick ratio – 0.4x –
Cash ratio – 0.2x –
Altman Z-score – 1.90 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAXPPYPLV
Dividend yield 1.2% 1.0% 0.7%
Net buyback yield 3.2% 12.8% –
Shareholder yield 4.4% 13.8% 0.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAXPPYPLV
Forward P/E 17.8xFY2026 10.1xFY2026 29.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $17.56FY2026 $5.55FY2026 $13.83FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +14.2%FY2026 +4.5%FY2026 +20.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +21.2% -3.1% +11.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year $82.04BFY2026 $33.55BFY2026 $44.22BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +13.6%FY2026 +1.1%FY2026 +10.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -0.3% +5.1% +8.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAXPPYPLV
Held by institutions 84.9% 74.2% 87.6%
Institutions holding 3,009 1,378 4,528
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.3% +0.8% +2.4%
Institutions buying 1,473 521 2,328
Institutions selling 1,051 671 1,733
Buyers to sellers 1.40 0.78 1.34

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AXPPYPLV
AXP 1.00 0.23 0.45
PYPL 0.23 1.00 0.28
V 0.45 0.28 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AXP, PYPL and V?

Visa (V) is the largest by market capitalisation: American Express (AXP) $209.97B, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) $46.95B, Visa (V) $716.66B.

Which stock is cheaper, AXP, PYPL and V?

PayPal Holdings (PYPL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (American Express (AXP) 17.2x, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 10.1x, Visa (V) 27.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) is cheapest (American Express (AXP) 17.8x, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 10.1x, Visa (V) 29.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Visa (V) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: American Express (AXP) +10.2%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) +4.4%, Visa (V) +14.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

American Express (AXP) has the highest net margin (American Express (AXP) 15.8%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 13.8%). On return on invested capital, American Express (AXP) leads (American Express (AXP) 19.6%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 14.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Visa (V) returned the most: American Express (AXP) -13.5%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) -20.2%, Visa (V) +15.6%. Over five years, Visa (V) compounded fastest (American Express (AXP) +12.4%/yr, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) -25.0%/yr, Visa (V) +13.9%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

American Express (AXP) has the highest dividend yield: American Express (AXP) 1.17%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 1.00%, Visa (V) 0.67%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Visa (V) has been the steadiest (American Express (AXP) 26.1%, PayPal Holdings (PYPL) 43.9%, Visa (V) 22.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AXP, PYPL and V?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Visa (V) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.