PPL (PPL) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate SO or PPL?

Southern presently has a consensus target price of $90.54, indicating a potential upside of 2.04%. PPL has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.35%. Given Southern's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than PPL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.21
PPL	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Which has higher earnings & valuation, 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	3.85	$3.98B	$4.30	20.63
PPL	$8.46B	3.04	$888M	$1.21	28.77

Is SO or PPL more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 17.87% compared to PPL's net margin of 10.49%. 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	10.49%	8.88%	3.11%

Which has more risk & volatility, SO or PPL?

Southern has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPL has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SO or PPL a better dividend stock?

Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL pays an annual dividend of $1.09 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 90.1% 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 increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor SO or PPL?

In the previous week, Southern had 35 more articles in the media than PPL. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Southern and 6 mentions for PPL. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat PPL's score of 0.73 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southern	30 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PPL	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of 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 is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SO or PPL?

PPL received 53 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.81% of users gave PPL an outperform vote while only 49.58% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southern	Outperform Votes 535 49.58%	Underperform Votes 544 50.42%
PPL	Outperform Votes 588 60.81%	Underperform Votes 379 39.19%

Summary

Southern beats PPL on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.