American Express 3rd-Qtr Profit Leaps 71 Percent

NEW YORK (AP) -- American Express Co. says its third-quarter profit jumped 71 percent as its card holders spent more and it wrote off fewer unpaid bills.

The card company's net income rose to $1.08 billion, or 90 cents per share, from $632 million, or 53 cents per share, last year.

Revenue jumped 17 percent to $7.03 billion, from $6.02 billion last year.

Wall Street was expecting profit of 86 cents per share on revenue of $6.8 billion.

Spending on American Express cards, typically held by more affluent consumers, rose 14 percent in the quarter, but remained below levels seen before the recession.

The company said its move to consolidate securitized loans -- those sold to investors -- in the first quarter also helped boost profit in the quarter.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)