PPL (PPL) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SO or PPL?

PPL received 51 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.81% of users gave PPL an outperform vote while only 49.67% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southern	Outperform Votes 534 49.67%	Underperform Votes 541 50.33%
PPL	Outperform Votes 585 60.81%	Underperform Votes 377 39.19%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in SO or PPL?

64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.0% of PPL shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of PPL shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SO or PPL more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 17.87% compared to PPL's net margin of 9.95%. Southern's return on equity of 12.78% beat PPL's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern	17.87%	12.78%	3.25%
PPL	9.95%	9.20%	3.25%

Is SO or PPL a better dividend stock?

Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. PPL pays an annual dividend of $1.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PPL pays out 92.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southern has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts prefer SO or PPL?

Southern presently has a consensus target price of $89.27, indicating a potential upside of 2.35%. PPL has a consensus target price of $35.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.19%. Given PPL's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PPL is more favorable than Southern.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
PPL	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the media refer more to SO or PPL?

In the previous week, Southern had 20 more articles in the media than PPL. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Southern and 4 mentions for PPL. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat PPL's score of 0.04 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southern	23 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
PPL	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, SO or PPL?

Southern has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPL has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, SO or PPL?

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than PPL. Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PPL, 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
Southern	$25.25B	3.78	$3.98B	$4.30	20.28
PPL	$8.31B	3.00	$740M	$1.12	30.13

Summary

Southern beats PPL on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.