American Express runs a premium credit card and payments business built around a high-income cardholder base, and its stock has effectively gone nowhere over the past year (0.0% return). Both growth (C+) and profitability (B) are middling.

Valuation (C, ~20x P/E) is much lower than Visa or Mastercard's, reflecting Amex's different business model — it also carries its own lending and credit risk rather than being a pure payments network. It's worth factoring in the risk of rising credit losses if consumer spending weakens.