NextEra Energy (NEE) Competitors

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

Is NEE or SO more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 28.06% compared to Southern's net margin of 16.47%. Southern's return on equity of 12.23% 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	16.47%	12.23%	3.11%

Do analysts prefer NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy currently has a consensus price target of $85.92, indicating a potential upside of 24.25%. Southern has a consensus price target of $91.46, indicating a potential upside of 4.32%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities 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 institutionals & 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Southern. NextEra Energy 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
NextEra Energy	$24.75B	5.75	$6.95B	$3.37	20.52
Southern	$26.72B	3.60	$3.98B	$4.01	21.86

Does the media prefer NEE or SO?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 28 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for NextEra Energy and 31 mentions for Southern. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Southern's score of 1.26 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	45 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southern	23 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NEE or SO a better dividend stock?

NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. NextEra Energy pays out 67.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern pays out 71.8% 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 favor NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy received 243 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.64% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 49.49% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 778 71.64%	Underperform Votes 308 28.36%
Southern	Outperform Votes 535 49.49%	Underperform Votes 546 50.51%

Which has more risk and volatility, NEE or SO?

NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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