Southern Co. (SO) closed at $47.43 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.15% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.79% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.85%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.11%.
Coming into today, shares of the power company had gained 8.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector gained 6.76%, while the S&P 500 gained 13.44%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 20, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.24, down 52.94% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.92 billion, down 12.62% from the year-ago period.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SO. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. SO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Looking at its valuation, SO is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 15.78. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.03.
Meanwhile, SO's PEG ratio is currently 3.51. 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. The Utility - Electric Power was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.24 at yesterday's closing price.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, putting it in the top 31% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO): Get Free Report
Original post
Zacks Investment Research