Is the business good?
How good a business is AEP?
American Electric Power earns 5.2% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
5.2%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 3.8 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 24%
Operating margin · Utilities - Regulated Electric median 22% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.68×
Cash conversion · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- +2.3%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 20% |
| FY2021 | 20% |
| FY2022 | 18% |
| FY2023 | 19% |
| FY2024 | 22% |
| FY2025 | 24% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 67%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 24%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 17%
- Free cash flow margin
- 12%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $22.4B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $2.60B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $3.80B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.2%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Utilities - Regulated Electric
Ranks #8 of 37 by Smart Score