Business Context and Reporting Period
This Form 8-K was filed by American Electric Power Company, Inc. on June 18, 2009. The report serves as a Regulation FD disclosure regarding investor meetings scheduled for the same date.
Key Financial Metrics
The filing does not provide specific historical financial data such as revenue, profit, cash flow, margins, debt, or liquidity figures for the current or prior periods. The only financial metric disclosed is the company's forward-looking earnings guidance.
Material Changes and Guidance
During investor meetings on June 18, 2009, management reaffirmed its prior guidance for the 2009 fiscal year. The company projects ongoing earnings of $2.75 to $3.05 per share. This guidance was most recently stated in a Form 8-K filed on April 24, 2009.
Management defines "ongoing earnings" as GAAP earnings adjusted for certain items, noting that this metric provides a more meaningful representation of performance and is used internally for budgeting and board reporting.
Risks and Contingencies
The filing includes extensive forward-looking statements and disclaims any obligation to update them. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ from projections include:
- Electric load, customer growth, and weather conditions.
- Fuel availability, costs, and supplier creditworthiness.
- Regulatory decisions, rate cases, and environmental compliance costs (sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, carbon).
- Resolution of litigation, including Clean Air Act enforcement and Enron Corp. bankruptcy disputes.
- Financial market conditions affecting capital availability and debt refinancing.
- Actions by rating agencies and volatility in energy commodity markets.
- Performance of pension and postretirement benefit plans.
- Unforeseen events such as wars, terrorism, and catastrophic events.
Investor Verification Checklist
- Verify the specific non-GAAP adjustments used to calculate "ongoing earnings" as referenced in the April 24, 2009 press release.
- Monitor the status of pending rate cases and regulatory decisions affecting cost recovery.
- Track the resolution of litigation related to the Clean Air Act and Enron Corp.
- Assess the company's ability to refinance existing debt given current financial market conditions.
- Review updates on fuel costs and generating capacity performance.