Southern (SO) Competitors

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) and Southern (NYSE:SO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, community ranking, dividends and earnings.

Is NEE or SO more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 26.49% compared to Southern's net margin of 17.87%. Southern's return on equity of 12.78% beat NextEra Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NextEra Energy	26.49%	11.94%	3.86%
Southern	17.87%	12.78%	3.25%

Is NEE or SO a better dividend stock?

NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. NextEra Energy pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern pays out 67.0% 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 increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Southern has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy currently has a consensus price target of $86.85, suggesting a potential upside of 15.63%. Southern has a consensus price target of $89.47, suggesting a potential upside of 5.62%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe NextEra Energy is more favorable than Southern.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NextEra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Which has more risk & volatility, NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer NEE or SO?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 10 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for NextEra Energy and 17 mentions for Southern. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat NextEra Energy's score of 1.41 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NextEra Energy	21 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy received 239 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.77% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.63% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 773 71.77%	Underperform Votes 304 28.23%
Southern	Outperform Votes 534 49.63%	Underperform Votes 542 50.37%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in NEE or SO?

78.7% of NextEra Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.1% of Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, NEE or SO?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NextEra Energy	$28.11B	5.49	$7.31B	$3.38	22.22
Southern	$25.25B	3.68	$3.98B	$4.30	19.70

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Southern on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.