AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY vs CIRCLE INTERNET GROUP, INC., two Mortgage Finance stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Circle carries no debt and barely any conventional balance sheet at all, a stablecoin issuer whose real asset is the float behind USDC; American Express carries 1.78 turns of equity in receivables, the traditional architecture of consumer credit. The market values the difference in maturity plainly: $234B for Amex's 15.1% net margin and 33% return on equity, $20B for Circle's 6.5% operating margin that still nets slightly negative. Amex trades at 21.3 times earnings with a 1% dividend; Circle has no earnings to price. A payments annuity underwritten by affluence sits beside a monetary experiment priced on the interest its reserves throw off. Different centuries, briefly adjacent.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | AXP | CRCL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $326.19 | $62.41 |
| Market cap | $221.5B | $16.6B |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | 19.8 | — |
| P/B | 6.46 | 4.85 |
| P/S | 2.92 | 7.96 |
| EV/EBITDA | — | 64.5 |
| Revenue growth | +10.7% | +46.3% |
| Operating margin | — | 6.5% |
| Net margin | 15.1% | -3.8% |
| Return on equity | 33.4% | -2.3% |
| Return on assets | 3.7% | -0.1% |
| Dividend yield | 1.0% | — |
| Debt / equity | 1.72 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | — | 1.03 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 0.85 | 0.17 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 9 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.