Southern Co. (SO) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing
Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $70.50, moving +1.41% from the previous trading session. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 1.25%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.97%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.3%.
Shares of the power company witnessed a loss of 3.77% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Utilities sector with its loss of 6.94% and underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 1.58%.
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. On that day, Southern Co. is projected to report earnings of $0.59 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 126.92%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $7.74 billion, showing a 9.78% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Southern Co. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
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 0.68% lower. Southern Co. presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Southern Co. is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.35. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.48, which means Southern Co. is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 4.34. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Utility - Electric Power industry stood at 2.54 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 154, placing it within the bottom 39% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the 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
