SO vs. NEE, DUK, EIX, ETR, FE, PPL, ES, PNW, OGE, and IDA
Should you be buying Southern stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southern include NextEra Energy (NEE), Duke Energy (DUK), Edison International (EIX), Entergy (ETR), FirstEnergy (FE), PPL (PPL), Eversource Energy (ES), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), OGE Energy (OGE), and IDACORP (IDA). These companies are all part of the "electric utilities" industry.
Southern (NYSE:SO) and NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.
In the previous week, Southern had 4 more articles in the media than NextEra Energy. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Southern and 17 mentions for NextEra Energy. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Southern's score of 0.78 indicating that NextEra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Southern pays out 74.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NextEra Energy pays out 56.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
NextEra Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Southern. Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NextEra Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
NextEra Energy received 231 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 72.22% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.95% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.
64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.7% of NextEra Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
NextEra Energy has a net margin of 27.62% compared to Southern's net margin of 16.74%. Southern's return on equity of 12.07% beat NextEra Energy's return on equity.
Southern has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Southern currently has a consensus target price of $76.36, suggesting a potential downside of 2.03%. NextEra Energy has a consensus target price of $73.50, suggesting a potential downside of 2.47%. Given Southern's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than NextEra Energy.
Summary
NextEra Energy beats Southern on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Southern News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for SO and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Southern Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
