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American Electric Power (AEP) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $101.09, moving -1.26% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.07%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.07%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the utility had gained 2.43% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 0.12% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.49% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from American Electric Power as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect American Electric Power to post earnings of $1.51 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.59%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.91 billion, up 6.85% from the year-ago period.

AEP's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5 per share and revenue of $18.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.49% and +10.16%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Electric Power should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. American Electric Power is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, American Electric Power is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 20.49. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.72, so we one might conclude that American Electric Power is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, AEP's PEG ratio is currently 3.31. 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 3.29 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 59, which puts it in the top 24% 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.


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