Southern (SO) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, SO or NEE?

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

Is SO or NEE a better dividend stock?

Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Southern pays out 67.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NextEra Energy pays out 60.9% 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. Southern has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years and NextEra Energy has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer SO or NEE?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 3 more articles in the media than Southern. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for NextEra Energy and 6 mentions for Southern. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat NextEra Energy's score of 1.13 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southern	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NextEra Energy	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, SO or NEE?

NextEra Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Southern	$26.43B	3.44	$3.98B	$4.30	19.27
NextEra Energy	$26.25B	5.62	$7.31B	$3.38	21.20

Is SO or NEE 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
Southern	17.87%	12.78%	3.25%
NextEra Energy	26.49%	11.94%	3.86%

Do analysts rate SO or NEE?

Southern presently has a consensus price target of $90.14, suggesting a potential upside of 8.79%. NextEra Energy has a consensus price target of $87.15, suggesting a potential upside of 21.60%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NextEra Energy 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)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
NextEra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SO or NEE?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SO or NEE?

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

Summary

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