American Express beat Wall Street's expectations for third quarter earnings, saying Thursday it had earnings per share of $1.88 on strong gains in spending by consumers and small businesses.

Wall Street had expected EPS of $1.77, as forecast by Refinitiv. Revenue was a record $10.1 billion, beating the expectation of $10.05 billion.

Profit of $1.6 billion rose 22 percent. The shares added 1.7 percent in after hours trading Thursday.

The company said it expects full-year revenue to be up 9 percent to 10 percent and it raised its forecast 2018 earnings per share to a range of $7.30 to $7.40 from $6.90 to $7.30. Shares of American Express rose 0.5 percent in aftermarket trading.

Net income in global consumer services rose 15 percent, to $779 million. In commercial services, net income rose 20 percent, to $606 million.

American Express reported the day after notes from the recent Federal Open Market Committee Meeting indicate the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates. Higher rates should benefit companies like Amex by boosting revenue and profit.

Also on Thursday, American Express announced an agreement with mobile payments app firms PayPal and Venmo to enable cardholders to send payments and pay their Amex bills.