Southern Co. (SO) closed at $90.67 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.53% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.96%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.89%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.94%.
Shares of the power company witnessed a loss of 0.38% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Utilities sector with its loss of 2.43%, and underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 0.5%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Southern Co. in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.99, indicating a 9.17% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.76 billion, up 4.66% from the prior-year quarter.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $4.28 per share and revenue of $28.23 billion, indicating changes of +5.68% and +5.64%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Southern Co. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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 0.02% higher. Southern Co. is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Southern Co. is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 20.88. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 17.76.
It is also worth noting that SO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.19. 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 average PEG ratio for the Utility - Electric Power industry stood at 2.58 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 83, positioning it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Southern Company (The) (SO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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