Southern (SO) Competitors

Southern (NYSE:SO) and American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and media sentiment.

Do analysts recommend SO or AEP?

Southern currently has a consensus price target of $93.53, indicating a potential downside of 2.46%. American Electric Power has a consensus price target of $108.31, indicating a potential downside of 1.68%. Given American Electric Power's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Electric Power is more favorable than Southern.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
American Electric Power	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.31

Which has better earnings & valuation, SO or AEP?

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than American Electric Power. American Electric Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern	$26.72B	3.94	$4.40B	$4.19	22.89
American Electric Power	$19.72B	2.98	$2.97B	$5.19	21.23

Is SO or AEP more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 16.54% compared to American Electric Power's net margin of 13.73%. Southern's return on equity of 12.70% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern	16.54%	12.70%	3.22%
American Electric Power	13.73%	11.68%	3.08%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in SO or AEP?

64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American Electric Power shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SO or AEP a better dividend stock?

Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern pays out 70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Electric Power pays out 71.7% 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. Southern has increased its dividend for 25 consecutive years and American Electric Power has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer SO or AEP?

In the previous week, Southern had 16 more articles in the media than American Electric Power. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Southern and 21 mentions for American Electric Power. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat American Electric Power's score of 1.27 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southern	24 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Electric Power	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, SO or AEP?

Southern has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Electric Power has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Southern beats American Electric Power on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.