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Reasons to Add American Electric Power (AEP) to Your Portfolio

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American Electric Power Company Inc. (AEP - Free Report) is involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to its customers in the United States. The company’s transmission and lines provide support to the electric interconnection grid in the eastern United States.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a strong investment pick at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Growth Projections & Long-Term Growth

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings per share and revenues is pegged at $5.03 and $18.89 billion, suggesting an increase of 6.1% and 12.4%, respectively, from the year-ago period.

The consensus mark for 2023 earnings and revenues is pegged at $5.32 and $19.32 billion, respectively. The bottom- and top-line estimates suggest a 5.7% and 2.3% year-over-year increase, respectively.

The long-term (three- to five-year) earnings growth of the company is currently pegged at 6.2%.

Surprise History & Dividend Yield

American Electric Power’s four-quarter positive earnings surprise is 2.9%, on average. The current dividend yield of the company is 3.48%.

Return on Equity (ROE)

The ROE of a company indicates how efficiently the company is utilizing its funds to generate returns. The current ROE of American Electric Power is 10.73% compared with the industry average of 10.2%, which indicates that the company is utilizing its funds better than companies in its industry.

Strong Long-Term Investment

American Electric Power currently plans to invest $40 billion over the 2023-2027 period in its core regulated operations, contracted renewables and wires. Such planned investments should enable AEP to achieve its long-term earnings growth target of 6-7%.

American Electric Power has nearly 40,000 circuit miles of transmission lines, including 2,200 circuit miles of 765 kV lines, which are the backbone of the electric interconnection grid in the eastern United States. American Electric aims to invest around $25.8 billion in its transmission and distribution business during the 2023-2027 period to construct a more efficient grid and deliver custom energy solutions to customers.

Price Performance

In the past year, the stock has gained 14.3% compared with the industry’s 0.9% increase.

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

Other top-ranked stocks in the Utilities sector include Pinnacle West Capital (PNW - Free Report) , NiSource (NI - Free Report) and Global Water Resources (GWRS - Free Report) . All companies currently carry a Zacks Rank #2.

Pinnacle West, NiSource and Global Water Resources delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 116.1%, 0.3% and 180%, respectively, in the last four quarters.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings for Pinnacle West, NiSource and Global Water Resources has moved 2.8%, 0.7% and 5% upward, respectively, in the past 60 days.

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