Southern Company SO
Stock research in plain language · As of Oct 04, 2026 · updated once a week, after the trading week closes
What the company does
Southern Company is a large-cap company in the Utilities sector (Utilities - Regulated Electric), with a market value of $96.3B, based in the USA.
It employs about 29,502 people and has been listed since Dec 31, 1981.
The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the sale of electricity. The company offers electric service to retail customers and wholesale customers; and energy-related products and services to natural gas choice markets. It also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, operates, and manages power generation assets, as well as battery energy storage projects; sells electricity at market-based rates in the wholesale market; and deploys microgrids for commercial, industrial, governmental, and utility customers.
Cheap or expensive? priced in line with its group
Its price-to-earnings (P/E) is 20.2 versus 19.6 for the median of the Utilities sector in our universe (7 companies) — priced in line with its group.
Revenue is growing 0% versus the same quarter last year.
On analysts' next-year forecasts the multiple drops to 17.0 — they expect higher earnings.
The average analyst price target is 98.13, 17% above the current price (their view, not ours).
The stock sits at 12% of its one-year range (0% = the low, 100% = the high).
The risks
- • Net debt is 1.9× shareholders' equity — high leverage.
Strengths
- ✅ Profitable — 17 of every 100 dollars of revenue stays as profit.
- ✅ Generates free cash flow — profit becomes cash in the bank.
- ✅ Most analysts rate it buy (7 vs 2).
- ✅ Pays a dividend (3.6% a year).
What changed this week
Over the past week the stock rose 1.0% (for comparison: S&P 500 -0.2%, sector ETF XLU +0.8%).
It set a new one-year low this week.
This week's news
- Southern Energy Announces Results of Annual Meeting and Board Changes finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-01
- Amazon Signs 20-Year Nuclear Power Deal With Constellation, Unlocking $3 Billion Investment to Fuel AI-Induced Electricity Demand finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-01
- Southern Co. (SO) Rises As Market Takes a Dip: Key Facts finance.yahoo.com · 2026-09-29
- Trump’s municipal bond portfolio reaches as much as $1 billion as policy overlaps mount cnbc.com · 2026-09-29
- Trump’s municipal bond portfolio reaches as much as $1 billion as policy overlaps mount cnbc.com · 2026-09-29
- Trump Bought These 2 Stocks. Billionaires Were Selling Them finance.yahoo.com · 2026-09-28
A description of facts from the filings and the market — not investment advice or a recommendation. "Cheap" and "expensive" are always relative to the comparison group.