American Express (NYSE:AXP) stock climbed 5.5% in Friday premarket trading after the travel-focused credit card issued 2023 guidance that surpassed Wall Street expectations and announced plans to increase its dividend by 15%.

Q4 earnings fell short of Street consensus estimates as higher network volumes drove customer engagement costs higher and customers used more travel-related benefits, reflecting the bounce back from the pandemic. In addition, the company’s Amex Ventures investments posted a loss for the quarter.

CEO Stephen Squeri highlighted the American Express’s (AXP) sustained growth in customer acquisitions – which reached a record 12.5 million new Card accounts in 2022 – along with high levels of engagement and retention, which has enabled us to build scale while driving momentum across our core businesses.”

The credit card company introduced 2023 EPS guidance of $11.00-$11.40, vs. $10.45 consensus. it expects revenue growth of 15%-17% for the year, implying revenue of $60.79B-$61.85B. Consensus estimate is $58.76B.

The company plans to boost its regular quarterly dividend by 15% to $0.60 per share from $0.52, beginning with its Q1 2023 dividend declaration.

Q4 GAAP EPS of $2.07, lower than the $2.24 consensus, declined from $2.47 in Q3 and from $2.18 in Q4 2021.

Q4 revenue of $14.18B, trailing the $14.25B consensus, increased from $13.56B in the prior quarter and $12.15B in the year-ago period.

Q4 net interest income of $2.76B climbed from $2.58B in Q3 and from $2.11B in Q4 2021.

Total network volumes increased 12% Y/Y to $413.3B in Q4 and compared with $394.4B in Q3. Card member loans grew to $108.0B in from $99.0B in the previous quarter.

American Express’s (AXP) provision for credit losses of $1.03M vs. Visible Alpha consensus of $1.04B, increased from $778M in Q3 and from $53M in the year-ago quarter.

Consolidated expenses were $11.3B vs. $11.1B Visible Alpha consensus, $10.3B in the prior quarter and $9.8B in the year-ago period. The Y/Y increase mostly reflected higher customer engagement costs, driven by higher network volumes and increased usage of travel-related benefits, partly offset by lower marketing expenses in the current quarter. Operating expenses also reflected higher compensation costs and a net loss on Amex Ventures investments of $234M in the quarter.

Global Consumer Service Group Q4 pretax income of $1.29B, slipped from $1.31B in Q3 and edged up from $1.28B in Q4 2021.

Global Commercial Services Q4 pretax income of $547M declined from $774M in Q3 and $717M in Q4 2021.

International Card Services Q4 pretax income of -$15M vs. $166M in the prior quarter and $40M in the year-ago quarter.

Global Merchant and Network Services Q4 pretax income was $691M vs. $792M in Q3 and $475M in Q4 2021.

Conference call at 8:30 AM ET.

Earlier, American Express (AXP) GAAP EPS of $2.07 misses by $0.16, revenue of $14.2B misses by $50M, guides EPS above FY23 consensus