Business Context and Reporting Period
This Form 8-K was filed by American Electric Power Company, Inc. on July 13, 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 values for revenue, profit, cash flow, margins, debt, or liquidity for the current period. It focuses exclusively on forward-looking earnings guidance.
Material Changes and Guidance
During investor meetings on July 13, 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.
- Changes in financial markets 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 the "ongoing earnings" of $2.75 to $3.05 per share.
- Review the April 24, 2009 Form 8-K for the original basis of the guidance.
- Monitor pending rate cases and regulatory decisions that could impact cost recovery.
- Assess the status of pending litigation, particularly regarding the Clean Air Act and Enron Corp.
- Track changes in fuel costs and creditworthiness of suppliers.