How to buy The AES Corporation stock | 19.9

The AES Corporation is an utilities—diversified business based in the US. The AES Corporation shares (AES) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. The AES Corporation employs 8,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$9.6 billion.

How to buy shares in The AES Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for The AES Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: AES. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until The AES Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$19.9, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of The AES Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of The AES Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted The AES Corporation's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, The AES Corporation's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$19.9, which is 4.10% down on its pre-crash value of USD$20.75 and 145.38% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$8.11.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of The AES Corporation shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$584.48 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$979.88.

The AES Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of AES stocks over time.

The AES Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$19.9
52-week range	USD$9 - USD$21.23
50-day moving average	USD$18.4026
200-day moving average	USD$15.3665
Wall St. target price	USD$20
PE ratio	69
Dividend yield	USD$0.57 (2.88%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$0.284

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Is it a good time to buy The AES Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of The AES Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

The AES Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $19.9 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-11-19)	-4.69%
1 month (2020-10-26)	-3.30%
3 months (2020-08-26)	12.24%
6 months (2020-05-26)	54.50%

1 year (2019-11-26)	6.13%
2 years (2018-11-26)	29.22%
3 years (2017-11-24)	86.16%
5 years (2015-11-25)	101.42%

Is The AES Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing The AES Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of The AES Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

The AES Corporation's P/E ratio

The AES Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 69x. In other words, The AES Corporation shares trade at around 69x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

The AES Corporation's PEG ratio

The AES Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.8289. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into The AES Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

The AES Corporation's EBITDA

The AES Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$3.2 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a The AES Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

The AES Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$9.6 billion
Operating margin TTM	21.89%
Gross profit TTM	USD$2.3 billion
Return on assets TTM	3.88%
Return on equity TTM	7.96%
Profit margin	2.01%
Book value	$3.703
Market capitalisation	USD$13.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting The AES Corporation shares

There are currently 10.1 million The AES Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as The AES Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 32.5% down from 14.9 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting The AES Corporation shares can be evaluated.

The AES Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

The AES Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of The AES Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of The AES Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 5.1 million). The AES Corporation's SIR currently stands at 1.97. In other words for every 100,000 The AES Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1970 shares are currently held short.

However The AES Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of The AES Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable The AES Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case The AES Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 The AES Corporation shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0202% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable The AES Corporation shares, roughly 20 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against The AES Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short The AES Corporation stock.

The AES Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like The AES Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

The AES Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 31.67

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and The AES Corporation's overall score of 31.67 (as at 10/01/2020) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 68th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like The AES Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

The AES Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 19.33/100

The AES Corporation's environmental score of 19.33 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that The AES Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

The AES Corporation's social score

Social score: 7.56/100

The AES Corporation's social score of 7.56 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that The AES Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

The AES Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 3.29/100

The AES Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that The AES Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

The AES Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. The AES Corporation scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that The AES Corporation has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

The AES Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.

Total ESG score	31.67
Total ESG percentile	68.4
Environmental score	19.33
Environmental score percentile	2
Social score	7.56
Social score percentile	2
Governance score	3.29
Governance score percentile	2
Level of controversy	2

The AES Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 41.84% of net profits

Recently The AES Corporation has paid out, on average, around 41.84% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 2.88% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), The AES Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 2.88% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In The AES Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $0.57 per share.

While The AES Corporation's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that The AES Corporation may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

The AES Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 18 August 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 29 October 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have The AES Corporation's shares ever split?

The AES Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 2 June 2000. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your The AES Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for The AES Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted The AES Corporation's share price.

The AES Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, The AES Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $9 up to $21.23. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while The AES Corporation's is 0.9504. This would suggest that The AES Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

The AES Corporation overview

The AES Corporation operates as a diversified power generation and utility company. It owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries. The company also owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market. It uses a range of fuels and technologies to generate electricity, including natural gas, coal, pet coke, diesel, and oil, as well as renewables, such as hydro, solar, wind, energy storage, biomass, and landfill gas. The company owns and/or operates a generation portfolio of approximately 30,471 megawatts. It has operations in the United States, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. The company was formerly known as Applied Energy Services, Inc. and changed its name to The AES Corporation in April 2000. The AES Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of The AES Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.371% of The AES Corporation shares are held by insiders and 97.926% by institutions.

• How many people work for The AES Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 8,000 work at The AES Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for The AES Corporation?

  The AES Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is The AES Corporation based?

  The AES Corporation's address is: 4300 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA, United States, 22203

• What is The AES Corporation's ISIN number?

  The AES Corporation's international securities identification number is: US00130H1059

• What is The AES Corporation's CUSIP number?

  The AES Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 00130H105