BUZZ-PREVIEW: American Express hits fresh record heading into results

** American Express AXP.N shares up 0.5% to $323.85 ahead of its Q4 results due before the opening bell on Fri

** Stock rising for fourth straight session to new record highs

** The global payments company is expected to report adj quarterly EPS of $3.04 on revenue of $17.16 bln, per LSEG data, vs yr-ago results of $2.62 per share and $15.8 bln

** Of the 31 analysts that cover AXP, the breakdown of recommendations is 12 "strong buy" or "buy," 16 "hold" and 3 "sell" or "strong sell" ratings

** Median price target of $305 is up from $290 on Dec. 23 and from $270 three months ago

** With move on Thurs, AXP shares up ~9% YTD vs 4.6% rise in Dow Industrials .DJI and 4.8% gain in S&P 500 financials .SPSY

** AXP options imply a 4.0% swing for the shares, in either direction, on Fri, according to options analytics service ORATS; over the last 12 qtrs, on average, AXP shares moved 4.6%, on the day the co reported results