American Electric Power (AEP) closed the most recent trading day at $98.56, moving +1.28% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.39%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.17%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.34%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the utility had gained 3.55% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 3.12% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 4.73% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AEP as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 20, 2020. On that day, AEP is projected to report earnings of $0.62 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 13.89%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.06 billion, up 6.87% from the year-ago period.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AEP. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% higher within the past month. AEP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Investors should also note AEP's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 22.09. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.82.
It is also worth noting that AEP currently has a PEG ratio of 3.91. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.91 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 176, putting it in the bottom 31% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NYSE:AEP
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