Stocks · Utilities · Diversified Utilities

The AES Corporation AES

$14.90 -0.07% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $10.63B

Strong growthStrong trend

Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026

Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.

Three things to know

  1. Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $2.63, up 85.2% year over year.
  2. Net debt is 6.7× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
  3. The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 309 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.

PromtFinance scores

Each score is a percentile within the Utilities sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.

Growth87Strong

How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.

  • Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 42%
  • EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 4%
  • Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 21%
  • Revenue growth accelerationTop 9%
Quality31Weak

Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.

  • Return on invested capitalTop 33%
  • Gross marginBottom 12%
  • Operating marginBottom 27%
  • Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 19%
  • Accruals (lower is better)Top 14%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 7%
  • Interest coverBottom 20%
Value67Positive

How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.

  • Earnings yieldTop 16%
  • Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 15%
  • EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 22%
  • Sales / enterprise valueTop 23%
  • P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 47%
Momentum90Exceptional

Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.

  • 12-month return excluding last monthTop 34%
  • 6-month returnTop 6%
  • 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 19%
  • Distance from 52-week highTop 37%
  • Trend checklist (0–4)Top 1%
Revisions47Neutral

Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).

  • Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 17%
  • Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 14%
  • Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 46%
  • Upside to consensus price targetTop 33%
Stability22Very weak

Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.

  • Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 1%
  • Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 10%
  • Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 17%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 7%

What changed

Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).

MeasureBeforeNow
Revenue growth (YoY)3.0%8.5%↑
EPS growth (YoY)-4.6%85.2%↑
Gross margin16.9%20.3%↑
Operating margin14.6%17.5%↑
FCF margin-21.2%-13.2%↑

Fundamental momentum

MeasureNow (TTM)Year / quarter beforeSector rank
Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)8.5%3.0%↑Top 42%
EPS growth (TTM, YoY)85.2%-4.6%↑Top 4%
Gross margin20.3%16.9%↑Bottom 12%
Operating margin17.5%14.6%↑Bottom 27%
Net margin14.6%8.4%↑—
Free-cash-flow margin-13.2%-21.2%↑—
Return on invested capital4.4%—Top 33%
Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR-1.0%—Bottom 21%

Quality of earnings and balance sheet

Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
2.64×
Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
-5.8%
Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
0.0%
Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
-4.8 pp
Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
6.72×
Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
1.6×

Shareholder returns

Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
4.72%
Net buyback yield (TTM)
-10.22%
Shareholder yield
-5.50%
Share count change, 1 year
+0.4%
Share count change, 3-year CAGR
+2.2%

Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.

Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).

Earnings and expectations

Earnings momentum

Consecutive EPS beats
0
Beats in the last 8 reports
6 of 8
Average EPS surprise, last 4
+16.9%
Average 2-day reaction, last 8
+0.1%
Positive 20 days after report
6 of 8

Analysts

Consensus price target
$18.75
Target vs current price
+25.8%
Analysts with a rating
21
Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
43%
Consensus rating
Hold

How the stock reacted to recent reports

Report dateEPS surprise2 days5 days20 days60 days
Aug 4, 2026-2.2%-0.2%+0.1%+0.2%—
May 5, 2026+34.0%+0.6%+0.5%+2.8%+4.0%
Mar 2, 2026+30.6%-17.8%-18.1%-19.0%-15.1%
Nov 5, 2025+5.3%+5.8%+6.2%+2.0%+9.6%
Jul 31, 2025+30.8%+0.5%-1.8%+2.1%+8.6%
May 1, 2025-27.0%-0.5%+3.0%+0.5%+35.1%
Feb 28, 2025+54.3%+11.7%+4.7%+19.7%-3.8%
Oct 31, 2024+10.9%+0.4%-13.5%-20.9%-32.1%

Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.

Earnings history

Report dateEPSEstimateSurpriseRevenue
Aug 4, 2026$0.44$0.45-2.2%$3.42B
May 5, 2026$0.67$0.50+34.0%$3.18B
Mar 2, 2026$0.81$0.62+30.6%$3.10B
Nov 5, 2025$0.75$0.71+5.3%$3.35B
Jul 31, 2025$0.51$0.39+30.8%$2.85B
May 1, 2025$0.27$0.37-27.0%$2.93B
Feb 28, 2025$0.54$0.35+54.3%$2.96B
Oct 31, 2024$0.71$0.64+10.9%$3.29B

Valuation in context

MultipleNow5-year median5-year percentileSector rank (cheapness)
P/E (trailing)5.7×9.9×25thTop 16%
P/E (forward)6.5×———
EV / EBITDA9.1×——Top 22%
EV / Sales3.14×——Top 23%
Free-cash-flow yield-16.18%——Bottom 15%
Earnings yield17.65%——Top 16%

P/E over the past five years

Range 4.8× – 48.6× since Sep 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.

What moved the stock over the past year

Price return, 1 year
+4.3%
Earnings per share growth (TTM)
+85.2%
Change in P/E multiple
-40.1%

Most of the move came from earnings growth.

Technical state

Trend checklist

  • ✓ Price above 20-day average
  • ✓ Price above 50-day average
  • ✓ Price above 200-day average
  • ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
  • ✓ MACD histogram positive

Trend quality

Days above the 50-day average
32
Days above the 200-day average
309
50-day average slope (20 days)
+0.3%
200-day average slope (20 days)
+0.7%
Distance from 50-day average
+0.8%
Distance from 200-day average
+1.4%
RSI (14)
64.4
Relative volume
1.14×

Risk and drawdowns

Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
3.5%
Volatility vs own 5-year history
0th percentile · Low for this stock
Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
0.60
Correlation with S&P 500
0.25
Current drawdown from 1-year high
-13.8%
Maximum drawdown, 3 years
-55.8%

Largest declines in the past six years

From peakTo lowDeclineLengthRecovery
Dec 13, 2022May 22, 2025-67.1%611 daysNot yet recovered
Feb 16, 2021Jun 14, 2022-34.6%335 days117 days (Nov 30, 2022)
Jan 19, 2021Jan 27, 2021-18.2%6 days12 days (Feb 12, 2021)

Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.

Financial statements

Market cap
$10.63B
P/E (TTM)
5.7
EPS, diluted (TTM)
$2.63
Revenue (TTM)
$13.05B
Dividend yield
4.72%
52-week range
$13.21 – $17.65
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$11.14B$12.62B$12.68B$12.28B$12.23B
Gross profit$2.71B$2.55B$2.52B$2.32B$2.21B
Operating income$2.55B$2.34B$2.26B$2.03B$1.97B
Net income-$413.0M-$546.0M$242.0M$1.69B$949.0M
EPS (diluted)-$0.61-$0.82$0.35$2.36$1.26
Q3 2024Q4 2024Q1 2025Q2 2025Q3 2025Q4 2025Q1 2026Q2 2026
Revenue$3.29B$2.96B$2.93B$2.85B$3.35B$3.10B$3.18B$3.42B
Net income$509.0M$560.0M$46.0M-$105.0M$634.0M$322.0M$487.0M$465.0M
EPS (diluted)$0.71$0.79$0.07-$0.15$0.89$0.46$0.68$0.60
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Operating cash flow$1.90B$2.71B$3.03B$2.75B$4.31B
Capital expenditure-$2.12B-$4.55B-$7.72B-$7.39B-$5.93B
Free cash flow-$214.0M-$1.84B-$4.69B-$4.64B-$1.62B
Dividends paid-$401.0M-$422.0M-$444.0M-$483.0M-$501.0M
Net share buybacks$1.17B$60.0M$421.0M$0$992.0M

Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.

Cash and short-term investments
$1.85B
Total assets
$54.24B
Total liabilities
$41.41B
Total debt
$32.12B
Net debt
$30.32B
Shareholders’ equity
$4.94B

As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).

Dividends

Ex-dateAmountPaid
Jul 31, 2026$0.18Aug 14, 2026
May 1, 2026$0.18May 15, 2026
Jan 30, 2026$0.18Feb 13, 2026
Oct 31, 2025$0.18Nov 14, 2025
Aug 1, 2025$0.18Aug 15, 2025
May 1, 2025$0.18May 15, 2025
Jan 31, 2025$0.18Feb 14, 2025
Nov 1, 2024$0.17Nov 15, 2024

Short interest

Shares sold short
18,476,963
Days to cover
2.58
Change vs previous report
+5.9%

FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.

Stock splits

Jun 2, 2000
2-for-1
Aug 29, 1997
2-for-1
Mar 4, 1994
103-for-100
Feb 1, 1994
3-for-2