First Quarter 2024 Operating Earnings: $1.27 per share, up $0.16 from a year ago.
First Quarter 2024 GAAP Earnings: $1.91 per share compared to $0.77 per share last year.
Revenue and Profits Specifics: Details not specified, but operating earnings totaled $670 million, compared to $572 million in Q1 2023, indicating a growth of $98 million.
Segment Performance:
Vertically Integrated Utilities: Earned $0.57 per share, up $0.05.
Transmission and Distribution Utilities: Contributed $0.29 per share, an increase of $0.05.
AEP Transmission Holdco: Added $0.40 per share, up $0.05.
Generation and Marketing: Produced $0.12 per share, up $0.03.
Future Guidance
2024 Full Year Operating Earnings Guidance: Reaffirmed at $5.53 to $5.73 per share.
Long-Term Earnings Growth Rate: Maintained at 6% to 7%.
Capital Spend and Investment: Plans to increase capital spend in the future, including commercial loan growth and resiliency spend.
Trends, Market Conditions, Sentiment
Commercial Load Growth: Remarkable growth, particularly from data centers, with 10.5% growth over the first quarter of the last year. The increasing demand from data centers is a significant trend, indicating a robust demand for American Electric Power’s services.
Transmission System: AEP continues to invest in its large transmission system, anticipating more investment due to data center growth and other commercial loads.
Regulatory Initiatives: Efforts to improve the financial performance across multiple jurisdictions, with a focus on advanced regulatory initiatives and engaging constructively with regulators.
Market Sentiment: Positive, with a solid foundation laid in the first quarter. The confidence in achieving the set objectives highlights a positive outlook for growth and stability.
Environmental Regulations: Mention of pursuing legal challenges against newly published federal EPA rules, indicating concerns over potential impacts on operations and cost.
Notable Quotes
”We achieved a 14.2% FFO to debt during this quarter, which is within our stated range.” - Indicating financial health and achievement within targets.
”I’ve reviewed AEP’s financial targets, and I have total confidence in the plan’s achievability.” - Expressing confidence in meeting financial goals.
”We are working through final phases of the process and expect to conclude that process by our second quarter earnings call.” - On the sale of AEP Energy Retail and AEP On-site Distributed Resources businesses.
”The main takeaway on load, however, is the significant growth in large customers that we continue to bring online across our footprint.” - Highlighting the critical trend of growing large customer bases, particularly data centers.
”We look forward to providing you even more positive updates as we move forward in the year further solidifying stakeholder confidence in our financial targets.” - Positive outlook towards future performance and stakeholder confidence.
