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American Electric Power (AEP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $92.99, moving +0.69% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.1%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 6.59%.

Heading into today, shares of the utility had lost 3.16% over the past month, lagging the Utilities sector's loss of 1.07% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.58% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from American Electric Power as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 23, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $1, up 2.04% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.32 billion, up 5.3% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Electric Power should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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 0.78% higher. American Electric Power currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, American Electric Power currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.26. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.41.

Also, we should mention that AEP has a PEG ratio of 2.82. 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. AEP's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.19 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, putting it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow AEP in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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