Out Fox The $treet

Summary American Express reported Q115 earnings that easily surpassed analyst estimates. The company continues producing solid profits and returning capital to shareholders. The stock is expensive considering the lack of growth, but the situation is hardly dour. Despite troubling headwinds, the profits at American Express (NYSE: AXP ) continue flowing. The future of the premium credit card network doesn't appear nearly as dour as predicted by headlines following recent well-publicized customer defections. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Summary MasterCard has lost momentum after several years of substantial gains. High operating margins are attracting competitive threats. Virtual currencies offer lower costs. Back in January, Stone Fox Capital warned that the MasterCard Incorporated ( MA ) stock split could signal a top in the stock. The company followed up the split with an earnings miss that further hit the stock. Suddenly, a stock that had ridden an uptrend for several years faces the reality that a bullish trend doesn't mean a never ending stock gain. MasterCard is the second largest payment processing network behind Visa ( V ) . The company connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, and businesses in more than 210 countries around the globe. Even after the recent stock weakness, MasterCard is still worth around $90 billion. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The upcoming stock split could interrupt the relentless gains by MasterCard ( MA ) . While performing a split technically has no financial impact on investors, the mechanics of the split greatly impacts the psyche of investors. As most everybody knows, MasterCard operates a payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, and businesses in more than 210 countries around the globe. The company competes against Visa ( V ) in a near duopoly for the processing of credit card payments. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.