AEP vs XEL

American Electric Power and Xcel Energy, both Utilities

American Electric Power is the larger company at $69B against $48B. On trailing earnings AEP is the cheaper of the two at a P/E of 18.2 against 21.3, a gap that is only a bargain if the two are growing at similar rates. Over the past year AEP returned +12% against +9.3% for XEL. Ryufin's sector-relative Smart Score puts AEP ahead, 8/10 against 3/10.

American Electric Power and Xcel Energycompared on valuation, return and Ryufin’s Smart Score
FigureAEPXEL
Last close$123$77.70
Market cap$69B$48B
Trailing P/Elower is cheaper for the same earnings, not automatically better18.221.3
Dividend yield3.0%2.9%
1-year return+12%+9.3%
5-year return+68%+34%
Ryufin Smart Scoresector-relative, 1–108/103/10

Figures from SEC filings and end-of-day closes. Highlighting marks the higher or lower number, which is not the same as the better investment, a low P/E can be a warning and a high one can be deserved.

American Electric Power

Revenue of $6.0B in Q1 2026, net income $903M. Its largest reported line is Electric Generation Transmission Distribution, 18% of the disclosed total.

Xcel Energy

Revenue of $3.1B in Q2 2026, net income $586M. Its largest reported line is Retail Distribution, 73% of the disclosed total.

Open these two in the interactive comparison to add more names, change the period or read the correlation.