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Southern Co. (SO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
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Southern Co. (SO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $55.08, moving +0.18% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.38%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.73%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the power company had gained 3.95% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 1.65% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.19% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SO as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, SO is projected to report earnings of $0.71 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.25%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.04 billion, down 10.34% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $22.35 billion. These totals would mark changes of -1.3% and -4.86%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SO. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.18% higher. SO is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, SO currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.12, which means SO is trading at a discount to the group.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 4.03. 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. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.78 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow SO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Southern Co. (SO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Southern Co. (SO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $55.08, moving +0.18% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.38%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.73%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the power company had gained 3.95% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 1.65% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.19% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SO as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, SO is projected to report earnings of $0.71 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.25%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.04 billion, down 10.34% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $22.35 billion. These totals would mark changes of -1.3% and -4.86%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SO. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.18% higher. SO is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, SO currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.12, which means SO is trading at a discount to the group.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 4.03. 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. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.78 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow SO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.