AFRM vs. AXP: Affirm vs. American Express Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Affirm (AFRM) and American Express (AXP) both fall under the Financial Services industry group, but AFRM is classified in Financial Services while AXP is classified in Consumer Finance.

American Express (AXP) has more than two decades of public-market history since June 1, 1972, whereas Affirm (AFRM) listed on January 13, 2021 and has a much shorter record to draw on.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Affirm (AFRM) carries a highly aggressive beta of 3.70, indicating much higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, whereas American Express (AXP) is closer to market-like at 1.06 — a noticeable difference in market-sensitivity profile.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 44.49% and American Express (AXP) at 35.93% sit in the top peer quartile for ROE, suggesting each generates more profit from shareholders’ equity than typical industry peers.

Affirm (AFRM) at 43.86% retains a top-quartile share of revenue as profit, ahead of American Express (AXP) at 16.82%, which keeps about the industry-typical share.

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 14.82% and American Express (AXP) at 18.43% run core operations about as efficiently as their industries’ norm — neither stands out on operating profitability.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Affirm (AFRM) at 32.15% sits in the top revenue growth quartile, while American Express (AXP) at 9.52% is closer to the peer norm — faster top-line expansion for AFRM.

Affirm (AFRM) at 3,586.67% clears its industry range for EPS growth, a much stronger earnings trajectory than American Express (AXP) at 9.78%, which is closer to a typical peer reading.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

current ratio doesn’t apply on either side: Affirm (AFRM) in Financial Services and American Express (AXP) in Financial Services both report balance sheets without a current/non-current split, so their short-term liquidity is better judged through regulatory and funding measures.

debt-to-equity ratio is set aside for both: Affirm (AFRM) in Financial Services and American Express (AXP) in Financial Services run businesses where balance-sheet leverage is part of the model, so capital-adequacy and funding measures are the better gauges of balance-sheet risk.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Affirm (AFRM) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile American Express (AXP) reports a yield of 1.13%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Affirm (AFRM) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile American Express (AXP) reports a payout of 15.32%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 11.80 and American Express (AXP) at 18.08 land around their industries’ usual P/E ratio levels — neither is getting a clear earnings-multiple discount or premium versus peers.

American Express (AXP) at 2.95 is priced about in line with its industry on P/S ratio, while Affirm (AFRM) at 5.03 sits in the pricier quartile — AFRM costs more per dollar of sales.

Both Affirm (AFRM) at 4.01 and American Express (AXP) at 6.02 carry a premium to book value versus peers, sitting in the upper P/B ratio quartile of their industries.

Valuation Metrics