A Preview Of American Electric Power's Earnings

American Electric Power AEP announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, October 22. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q3 earnings announcement.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, And Earnings Per Share?

Earnings and earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equates to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

Wall Street analysts see American Electric Power reporting earnings of $1.45 per share on revenue of $4.41 billion. In the same quarter last year, American Electric Power reported earnings per share of $1.46 on sales of $4.30 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

Analysts who cover this company will publish forward-looking estimates of its revenue and EPS each quarter. Averaging together every EPS and revenue prediction that each analyst makes about a company in a quarter yields the "consensus estimates." A company posting earnings or revenue above or below the consensus estimate is known as an "earnings surprise" and may move the stock by a considerable margin.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 0.68% decrease in the company's earnings. Sales would be have grown 2.56% from the same quarter last year. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of American Electric Power were trading at $90.68 as of October 20. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 5.01%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.