Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $96.07, moving +1.55% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.51%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.47%.
Shares of the power company have appreciated by 2.24% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Utilities sector's gain of 0.34%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.53%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Southern Co. in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on July 30, 2026. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1, marking a 9.89% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $7.39 billion, showing a 5.94% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $4.57 per share and revenue of $31.35 billion, indicating changes of +6.28% and +6.08%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Southern Co. 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 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, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Southern Co. presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
With respect to valuation, Southern Co. is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.68. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.14, which means Southern Co. is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 2.86. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Utility - Electric Power industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.69.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 158, this industry ranks in the bottom 36% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).