NextEra Energy (NEE) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy presently has a consensus price target of $87.15, indicating a potential upside of 23.59%. Southern has a consensus price target of $90.14, indicating a potential upside of 10.60%. 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)	8 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media refer more to NEE or SO?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 16 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for NextEra Energy and 8 mentions for Southern. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat NextEra Energy's score of 1.33 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	20 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

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 3.5%. 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 raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Southern has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy received 239 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.80% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.68% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 774 71.80%	Underperform Votes 304 28.20%
Southern	Outperform Votes 535 49.68%	Underperform Votes 542 50.32%

Which has more risk and volatility, NEE or SO?

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

Do institutionals and insiders 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.

Which has preferable 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	$26.25B	5.53	$7.31B	$3.38	20.86
Southern	$26.43B	3.38	$3.98B	$4.30	18.95

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%

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Southern on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.