Southern Co. (SO) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $47.04, moving +0.32% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.66%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.56%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 3.03%.
Heading into today, shares of the power company had gained 5.85% over the past month, outpacing the Utilities sector's gain of 2.51% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.43% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from SO as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 20, 2019. In that report, analysts expect SO to post earnings of $0.24 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 52.94%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.35 billion, down 4.88% from the prior-year quarter.
SO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $23.21 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +0.33% and +0.76%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SO. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.86% higher. SO currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note SO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 15.46. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.43, so we one might conclude that SO is trading at a discount comparatively.
It is also worth noting that SO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.44. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Utility - Electric Power industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.46 as of yesterday's close.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 141, which puts it in the bottom 45% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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