Here's Why Southern Co. (SO) Gained But Lagged the Market Today

Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $87.80, moving +1.08% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 9.52%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 7.87%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 12.16%.Shares of the power company have depreciated by 3.6% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Utilities sector's loss of 4.41% and the S&P 500's loss of 13.47%.The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Southern Co. in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on May 1, 2025. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.17, indicating a 13.59% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $6.93 billion, showing a 4.3% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $4.29 per share and a revenue of $27.43 billion, indicating changes of +5.93% and +2.63%, respectively, from the former year.Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Southern Co. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.36% downward. Southern Co. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Digging into valuation, Southern Co. currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.23. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 17.29.We can also see that SO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.12. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Utility - Electric Power was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.63 at yesterday's closing price.The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 58, putting it in the top 24% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Southern Company (The) (SO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks