NextEra Energy (NEE) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation & earnings, NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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	$24.75B	5.95	$6.95B	$3.37	21.24
Southern	$25.25B	3.85	$3.98B	$4.30	20.62

Do analysts rate NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy presently has a consensus price target of $85.85, suggesting a potential upside of 19.91%. Southern has a consensus price target of $90.54, suggesting a potential upside of 2.09%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	9 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.21

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of NEE or SO?

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

Does the media favor NEE or SO?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 5 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for NextEra Energy and 41 mentions for Southern. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Southern's score of 1.25 indicating that NextEra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
NextEra Energy	40 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Southern	30 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NEE or SO more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 28.06% 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	28.06%	11.85%	3.81%
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 2.9%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. NextEra Energy pays out 61.1% 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 raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years and Southern has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy received 240 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.56% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.58% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 775 71.56%	Underperform Votes 308 28.44%
Southern	Outperform Votes 535 49.58%	Underperform Votes 544 50.42%

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Southern on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.