Summary
American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP) filed an 8-K on June 4, 2013, to announce that management would be reaffirming its previously issued 2013 fiscal year operating earnings guidance of $3.05 to $3.25 per share. This guidance was initially provided on April 26, 2013. The company emphasizes that it uses operating earnings, which adjust GAAP earnings for certain items, as its primary performance metric for communicating with investors and analysts, as well as for internal performance measurement. The filing also includes a comprehensive list of risk factors that could materially impact the company's actual results compared to its forward-looking statements. These risks span a wide range of operational, regulatory, market, and economic factors, including but not limited to, electric load and customer growth, weather, fuel costs, generating capacity performance, regulatory recovery of costs, new legislation, litigation (including environmental compliance), operating costs, asset sales, economic conditions, financial market volatility, and commodity price fluctuations. Investors should pay close attention to these disclosed risks as they evaluate the company's outlook.
Key Highlights
- 1AEP reaffirms its 2013 fiscal year operating earnings guidance of $3.05 to $3.25 per share.
- 2The reaffirmation occurred during investor meetings scheduled from June 4 to June 11, 2013.
- 3The company's primary performance measurement for investor communication is operating earnings, adjusted from GAAP earnings.
- 4Operating earnings are also used internally for performance against budget and reporting to the board.
- 5The 8-K includes an extensive list of risk factors that could affect future results.
- 6Key risk categories include regulatory, operational, market, economic, and environmental factors.