Valued at a market cap of $97.9 billion, The Southern Company (SO) is a utility company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity. The Atlanta, Georgia-based company is scheduled to announce its fiscal Q4 earnings for 2025 before the market opens on Thursday, Feb. 19.
Ahead of this event, analysts expect this utility company to report a profit of $0.58 per share, up 16% from $0.50 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company has surpassed Wall Street’s bottom-line estimates in three of the last four quarters, while missing on another occasion. Its earnings of $1.60 per share in the previous quarter topped the consensus estimates by 6.7%.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect SO to report a profit of $4.29 per share, representing a 5.9% increase from $4.05 per share in fiscal 2024. Furthermore, its EPS is expected to grow 7% year-over-year to $4.59 in fiscal 2026.
SO has gained 6% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming both the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 16.9% return and the State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF’s (XLU) 10.2% uptick over the same time period.
On Oct. 30, Southern’s shares surged 1.7% after it delivered better-than-expected Q3 results. Due to robust growth in retail and wholesale electric revenues and natural gas revenues, the company’s total operating revenue increased 7.5% year-over-year to $7.8 billion, beating consensus expectations by 3.7%. Additionally, its adjusted EPS improved 11.9% from the year-ago quarter to $1.60, surpassing analyst estimates by 6.7%.
Wall Street analysts are cautious about SO’s stock, with a “Hold” rating overall. Among 24 analysts covering the stock, five recommend “Strong Buy,” one indicates a “Moderate Buy,” 16 advise “Hold,” and two suggest “Strong Sell” ratings. The mean price target for SO is $97.12, indicating a 9.2% potential upside from the current levels.
On the date of publication, Neharika Jain did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
