American Electric Power (AEP) Competitors

AES (NYSE:AES) and American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability and dividends.

Do analysts rate AES or AEP?

AES currently has a consensus price target of $24.67, suggesting a potential upside of 85.53%. American Electric Power has a consensus price target of $111.29, suggesting a potential downside of 2.00%. Given AES's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe AES is more favorable than American Electric Power.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AES	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
American Electric Power	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Does the media prefer AES or AEP?

In the previous week, American Electric Power had 35 more articles in the media than AES. MarketBeat recorded 60 mentions for American Electric Power and 25 mentions for AES. American Electric Power's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat AES's score of 0.69 indicating that American Electric Power is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AES	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Electric Power	32 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, AES or AEP?

AES has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Electric Power has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, AES or AEP?

American Electric Power has higher revenue and earnings than AES. AES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Electric Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AES	$12.28B	0.77	$1.68B	$1.84	7.23
American Electric Power	$20.67B	2.94	$2.97B	$6.84	16.60

Is AES or AEP a better dividend stock?

AES pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. AES pays out 38.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. AES has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and American Electric Power has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. AES is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is AES or AEP more profitable?

American Electric Power has a net margin of 17.68% compared to AES's net margin of 10.67%. AES's return on equity of 18.06% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AES	10.67%	18.06%	2.80%
American Electric Power	17.68%	11.98%	3.15%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AES or AEP?

93.1% of AES shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of AES shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

AES and American Electric Power tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.