Southern Co. (SO) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why
Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $66.94, moving -0.01% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.06% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.13%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.24%.
Heading into today, shares of the power company had lost 6.79% over the past month, lagging the Utilities sector's loss of 5.4% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.45% in that time.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Southern Co. in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on February 15, 2024. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.59, up 126.92% from the prior-year quarter. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $7.74 billion, reflecting a 9.78% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Southern Co. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.09% higher. At present, Southern Co. boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Looking at its valuation, Southern Co. is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 16.71. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 14.07.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 4.18. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. SO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.52 as of yesterday's close.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 161, finds itself in the bottom 37% echelons 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Southern Company (The) (SO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
