3 Things Every American Express Investor Needs to Know

Credit card veteran American Express (NYSE: AXP) published its annual chairman's letter to shareholders, outlining how 2025 worked out and what's going on in 2026.

The document is a good read and a valuable supplement to January's full-year and Q4 2025 earnings report. I could nerd out about Chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri's presentation all day, but you don't have time for that. Let's just focus on three key items that deserve a closer look when you own or plan to buy AmEx stock.

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1. Your AI assistant wants a credit card

American Express really, really wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI).

The company has rolled out AI coding assistants to 11,000-plus engineers (cutting coding time by 30%), has built an AI chatbot fielding a million app inquiries a month, and is testing conversational AI to finally kill those "press 1 for account balance" phone menus.

But the bigger bet is on what Squeri calls "agentic AI." These autonomous AI systems can shop and transact on behalf of users. It may be a little early to ask people to give AI bots control of their real-world spending, but I have to applaud American Express's willingness to be an early adopter.

The company envisions AI agents booking travel reservations, enrolling users in valuable AmEx Offers, and booking the right hotels for every stay. Squeri compares the potential impact to the shift from physical to digital commerce. That's either visionary or the kind of thing management says in shareholder letters. Probably both.

2. Perks pay the bills

This idea is old news, but American Express has a simple pitch. "Pay us an annual fee, and we'll make you feel fancy."

The focus on premium experiences for high-quality clients is working. The company has now posted 30 consecutive quarters of double-digit net card fee revenue growth, with net card fees hitting a record $10 billion in 2025.

And this isn't just existing cardholders grudgingly renewing their cards. Over 70% of new accounts are fee-paying products. People are lining up to pay $695 for a Platinum Card nowadays.

Even those pricey top-level cards can make sense for the right customer. The value proposition centers on rewards, perks, and access -- things like airport lounge access, hotel status, and dining reservations through the Resy booking service (which AmEx owns).

The model is self-reinforcing: Premium customers spend more, which brings in more merchant revenue, which funds more perks, which justifies higher fees. As long as AmEx keeps delivering value, those customers stick around.

3. Generation AmEx is younger than you think

American Express has long had a reputation as the card your parents and grandparents carry. That's changing fast.

Millennials and Gen Z made up 65% of new account acquisitions globally in 2025. For the fancy Gold and Platinum cards? That's 75%. The average new Platinum cardholder is 33. It's 29 for new AmEx Gold users.

These aren't future customers AmEx is nurturing; they're the company's core growth engine right now. And Squeri pointed out that these cohorts already represent the largest share of U.S. consumer spending.

American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.