Southern Co. (SO) Rises As Market Takes a Dip: Key Facts

Southern Co. (SO) ended the recent trading session at $96.93, demonstrating a +1.44% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.4%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.73%.

The stock of power company has fallen by 1.88% in the past month, leading the Utilities sector's loss of 4.44% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.34%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Southern Co. in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on April 30, 2026. On that day, Southern Co. is projected to report earnings of $1.22 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 0.81%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $8.11 billion, showing a 4.36% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $4.59 per share and a revenue of $30.63 billion, signifying shifts of +6.74% and +3.66%, respectively, from the last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Southern Co. should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher. Southern Co. presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Southern Co.'s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.84. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 18.45.

It's also important to note that SO currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.88. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Utility - Electric Power industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.7.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, positioning it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

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Southern Company (The) (SO): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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