Stocks · Utilities · Regulated Electric

The Southern Company SO

$83.72 +0.30% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $96.31B

Low risk

Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026

Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.

Three things to know

  1. Net debt is 5.2× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
  2. The shares trade at 20.2× trailing earnings, lower than 86% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
  3. The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.

PromtFinance scores

Each score is a percentile within the Utilities sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.

Growth27Very weak

How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.

  • Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 35%
  • EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 47%
  • Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 32%
  • Revenue growth accelerationBottom 38%
Quality53Neutral

Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.

  • Return on invested capitalTop 46%
  • Gross marginBottom 42%
  • Operating marginTop 33%
  • Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 49%
  • Accruals (lower is better)Top 43%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 49%
  • Interest coverBottom 43%
Value56Neutral

How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.

  • Earnings yieldBottom 39%
  • Free-cash-flow yieldTop 17%
  • EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 49%
  • Sales / enterprise valueBottom 28%
  • P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 36%
Momentum32Weak

Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.

  • 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 35%
  • 6-month returnBottom 31%
  • 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 38%
  • Distance from 52-week highTop 49%
  • Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 32%
Revisions36Weak

Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).

  • Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 35%
  • Consecutive EPS beatsTop 35%
  • Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 23%
  • Upside to consensus price targetBottom 27%
Stability94Exceptional

Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.

  • Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 21%
  • Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 20%
  • Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 14%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 49%

What changed

Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).

MeasureBeforeNow
Revenue growth (YoY)8.3%6.4%↓
EPS growth (YoY)-6.2%6.7%↑
Gross margin48.8%43.4%↓
Operating margin25.4%24.2%↓
FCF margin-5.5%8.5%↑

Fundamental momentum

MeasureNow (TTM)Year / quarter beforeSector rank
Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)6.4%8.3%↓Bottom 35%
EPS growth (TTM, YoY)6.7%-6.2%↑Top 47%
Gross margin43.4%48.8%↓Bottom 42%
Operating margin24.2%25.4%↓Top 33%
Net margin15.4%15.1%↑—
Free-cash-flow margin8.5%-5.5%↑—
Return on invested capital4.1%—Top 46%
Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR0.3%—Bottom 32%

Quality of earnings and balance sheet

Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
2.20×
Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
-3.5%
Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
0.4%
Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
-15.6 pp
Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
5.22×
Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
2.2×

Shareholder returns

Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
3.22%
Net buyback yield (TTM)
-1.73%
Shareholder yield
1.48%
Share count change, 1 year
+3.3%
Share count change, 3-year CAGR
+1.3%

Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.

Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).

Earnings and expectations

Earnings momentum

Consecutive EPS beats
2
Beats in the last 8 reports
6 of 8
Average EPS surprise, last 4
+6.4%
Average 2-day reaction, last 8
+1.3%
Positive 20 days after report
3 of 8

Analysts

Consensus price target
$97.00
Target vs current price
+15.9%
Analysts with a rating
34
Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
32%
Consensus rating
Hold

How the stock reacted to recent reports

Report dateEPS surprise2 days5 days20 days60 days
Jul 30, 2026+11.9%-1.8%-3.1%-6.5%—
Apr 30, 2026+9.1%+3.4%+0.0%-1.1%+3.2%
Feb 19, 2026-1.4%+4.4%+5.4%+6.0%+2.9%
Oct 30, 2025+6.0%+1.7%-2.2%-3.5%-5.0%
Jul 31, 2025+4.0%-0.4%-0.2%-1.7%+1.3%
May 1, 2025+2.5%-0.5%+0.2%-3.4%+2.6%
Feb 20, 2025-1.2%+1.5%+2.6%+3.6%+1.0%
Oct 31, 2024+6.7%+1.9%-2.2%+0.4%-7.3%

Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.

Earnings history

Report dateEPSEstimateSurpriseRevenue
Jul 30, 2026$1.13$1.01+11.9%$6.98B
Apr 30, 2026$1.32$1.21+9.1%$8.40B
Feb 19, 2026$0.55$0.56-1.4%$6.98B
Oct 30, 2025$1.60$1.51+6.0%$7.82B
Jul 31, 2025$0.91$0.88+4.0%$6.97B
May 1, 2025$1.23$1.20+2.5%$7.78B
Feb 20, 2025$0.50$0.51-1.2%$6.34B
Oct 31, 2024$1.43$1.34+6.7%$7.27B

Valuation in context

MultipleNow5-year median5-year percentileSector rank (cheapness)
P/E (trailing)20.2×22.7×14thBottom 39%
P/E (forward)18.2×———
EV / EBITDA12.0×——Bottom 49%
EV / Sales5.65×——Bottom 28%
Free-cash-flow yield2.67%——Top 17%
Earnings yield4.95%——Bottom 39%

P/E over the past five years

Range 18.5× – 35.1× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.

What moved the stock over the past year

Price return, 1 year
-11.7%
Earnings per share growth (TTM)
+6.7%
Change in P/E multiple
-6.4%

Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.

Technical state

Trend checklist

  • ✗ Price above 20-day average
  • ✗ Price above 50-day average
  • ✗ Price above 200-day average
  • ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
  • ✓ MACD histogram positive

Trend quality

Days above the 50-day average
0
Days above the 200-day average
0
50-day average slope (20 days)
-4.5%
200-day average slope (20 days)
-0.3%
Distance from 50-day average
-6.3%
Distance from 200-day average
-9.2%
RSI (14)
34.9
Relative volume
1.21×

Risk and drawdowns

Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
14.3%
Volatility vs own 5-year history
10th percentile · Low for this stock
Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
-0.04
Correlation with S&P 500
-0.04
Current drawdown from 1-year high
-16.0%
Maximum drawdown, 3 years
-17.4%

Largest declines in the past six years

From peakTo lowDeclineLengthRecovery
Aug 19, 2022Oct 12, 2022-23.3%37 days411 days (Jun 3, 2024)
Oct 15, 2025Sep 28, 2026-17.4%238 daysNot yet recovered
Apr 6, 2022Jun 17, 2022-14.5%50 days28 days (Jul 29, 2022)
Oct 23, 2024Jan 6, 2025-14.0%50 days133 days (Jul 21, 2025)
Nov 10, 2020Feb 26, 2021-11.6%73 days33 days (Apr 15, 2021)

Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.

Financial statements

Market cap
$96.31B
P/E (TTM)
20.2
EPS, diluted (TTM)
$4.14
Revenue (TTM)
$30.18B
Dividend yield
3.58%
52-week range
$81.69 – $100.84
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$23.11B$29.28B$25.25B$26.72B$29.55B
Gross profit$10.25B$10.63B$11.71B$13.34B$8.81B
Operating income$3.70B$5.37B$5.83B$7.07B$7.27B
Net income$2.41B$3.54B$3.98B$4.40B$4.34B
EPS (diluted)$2.26$3.26$3.62$3.99$3.92
Q3 2024Q4 2024Q1 2025Q2 2025Q3 2025Q4 2025Q1 2026Q2 2026
Revenue$7.27B$6.34B$7.78B$6.97B$7.82B$6.98B$8.40B$6.98B
Net income$1.53B$534.0M$1.33B$880.0M$1.71B$416.0M$1.36B$1.17B
EPS (diluted)$1.39$0.48$1.21$0.80$1.54$0.37$1.20$1.03
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Operating cash flow$6.17B$6.30B$7.55B$9.79B$9.80B
Capital expenditure-$7.24B-$7.92B-$9.10B-$8.96B-$12.74B
Free cash flow-$1.07B-$1.62B-$1.54B$833.0M-$2.94B
Dividends paid-$2.78B-$2.91B-$3.04B-$2.95B-$3.02B
Net share buybacks$73.0M$1.51B$36.0M$143.0M$1.62B

Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.

Cash and short-term investments
$2.98B
Total assets
$162.03B
Total liabilities
$119.69B
Total debt
$77.09B
Net debt
$74.10B
Shareholders’ equity
$39.57B

As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).

Dividends

Ex-dateAmountPaid
Aug 17, 2026$0.76Sep 8, 2026
May 18, 2026$0.76Jun 8, 2026
Feb 17, 2026$0.74Mar 6, 2026
Nov 17, 2025$0.74Dec 8, 2025
Aug 18, 2025$0.74Sep 8, 2025
May 19, 2025$0.74Jun 6, 2025
Feb 18, 2025$0.72Mar 6, 2025
Nov 18, 2024$0.72Dec 6, 2024

Short interest

Shares sold short
28,961,449
Days to cover
5.24
Change vs previous report
-17.7%

FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.

Stock splits

Apr 3, 2001
10,000-for-6,109
Mar 1, 1994
2-for-1