Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) – American Electric Power Company Inc (NYSE:AEP) hits itsall time high on Friday after the company posted excellent than expected first quarter earnings.
Excellent Quarter
American Electric Power reported first quarter earnings per share at $1.15, widely exceeding the market consensus of $0.93. At the same time, its revenue stood 20% higher at $4.6 billion, surpassing the analysts’ expectations by $560 million of $4.03 billion. The strong growth in the quarter is mainly driven by the favorable weather during the beginning of the year, which led to robust residential and commercial demand.
Moreover, the industry was supported by higher power prices. American Electric Power Company Inc (NYSE:AEP)’s Chairman, President and CEO said that solid regulated business results coupled with strong performance from its energy business, driven by positive weather conditions and higher energy prices led to an excellent quarter for the company. After factoring in the demand driven by weather, the company saw improvement in both residential as well as commercial customer classes for the second quarter in a row.
For the year 2014, the company has increased its GAAP earnings guidance in the range of $3.35-$3.55 per share from it earlier outlook of $3.20-$3.40 per share. At the same time, the company has also projected operating earnings guidance for the year 2015 in the range of $3.30-$3.60 and $3.45-$3.85 per share for 2016.
Focus On Transmission
American Electric Power, which is counted among the largest U.S. electric utilities, has witnessed a growth in its recent quarters at a time, when there is an element of an uneven recovery in industrial demand. The company is eyeing at transmission development as a growth area, along with its retail-electricity operations. In the recent past, American Electric Power Company Inc (NYSE:AEP) has announced that it would be escalating its transmission capital investment by $200 million. Altogether, the utility margins improved 13% to $1.5 billion based on account of favorable rate decisions and lower temperature.
