NEW YORK (AP) _ American Express Co. (AXP) on Friday reported third-quarter profit of $1.78 billion.

The New York-based company said it had profit of $2.27 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.78 per share.

The credit card issuer and global payments company posted revenue of $10.93 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Fifteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $10.55 billion.

American Express shares have increased 47% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 21%. The stock has climbed 75% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AXP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AXP

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