Back to top

Image: Bigstock

American Electric Power (AEP) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) closed at $94.84 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.63% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.4%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.33%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.1%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the utility had gained 0.88% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 0.81% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.01% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from American Electric Power as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect American Electric Power to post earnings of $1.02 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.08%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.48 billion, up 9.31% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for American Electric Power. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.13% lower. American Electric Power currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, American Electric Power is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.16. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.06, so we one might conclude that American Electric Power is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that AEP has a PEG ratio of 2.96. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Utility - Electric Power was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.28 at yesterday's closing price.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 61, which puts it in the top 25% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) - free report >>

Published in