American Electric Power earnings: third quarter 2026

American Electric Power, one of the largest US electricity companies, earned an operating profit of $2.23 a share in the third quarter of 2026, up from $1.80 a year earlier. Sales rose about 14% to $6.8 billion. The bigger news was about the future. The company kept its 2026 forecast and now expects to finish at or above the top of it. It also gave profit ranges for 2027 and 2028 for the first time. It set a target of 9% to 11% yearly growth in profit per share through 2031, backed by a $100 billion five-year spending plan and new demand from large customers. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Operating profit per share of $2.23, and $2.18 under standard accounting rules, were both above the $2.04 analysts expected on average, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. That is about 9% above on the company's adjusted figure. ¹²

The strong points

• Profit per share on the company's own adjusted measure, which leaves out one-off items, rose by about a quarter, to $2.23 from $1.80 a year earlier. ¹
• Sales rose about 14% to $6,832 million, and profit grew faster than sales. ¹
• The company says it signed 15 gigawatts of new commitments from large customers in the quarter alone. ¹

The weak points

• There were about 1.7% more shares than a year ago, so each share's slice of profit was spread a little thinner. ¹
• Earlier in the year, one-off items, including costs Texas regulators would not let the company pass on to customers, pulled its standard-accounting profit for the nine months below last year's. ¹

What the company expects

• The company kept its 2026 forecast of $6.25 to $6.55 of operating profit per share, and now expects to finish at or above the top of that range. ¹
• For the first time, the company sets a target: operating profit per share growing 9% to 11% a year from 2027 through 2031, with $6.75 to $7.05 expected for 2027. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A strong report. Profit per share rose by about a quarter and came in ahead of what analysts expected, and the company held its 2026 forecast, expects to land at or above the top of it, and set new growth targets for the years ahead. The soft spots, more shares and earlier one-off charges, weigh little.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)

Notes

1. American Electric Power's results release, 28 October 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 29 October 2026. ↩