AmEx profit drops 63%, but beats Street

NEW YORK -- But the results are better than analysts were expecting.

The New York-based company says it earned $361 million, or 31 cents a share, in the January-March period after paying preferred dividends. That compares with earnings of $985 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 18% to $5.93 billion.

Thomson Reuters says analysts were expecting a profit of 12 cents per share on revenue of $6.45 billion.