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The Southern Company (SO)

NYSE / Utilities / Regulated Electric

Share price

89.18 USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026

Market capitalisation

102.60B USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026
Market data
Oct 15, 2026
Filed accounts
FY2025, filed Feb 19, 2026
Ratios computed
Oct 15, 2026
Filed years
10, FY2016 to FY2025
Four kinds of sourceSEC filingCompany statementMarket dataComputedWhat each means
SEC filingFiled with the SEC
Read from a statement the company filed with the SEC, with the form, fiscal year, filing date and accession beside it.
Company statementCompany statement
What the company says about itself in a filing: an 8-K item, the auditor, its own segment names.
Market dataMarket data
Prices, market value and what analysts publish, with the date they are as of.
ComputedComputed by ValueScreener
Worked out by us from the other three, with the inputs and the formula one press away. A score is a research output, not a rating or a recommendation.
Reading

1 of 10

Overview

What the business is, what it costs, and how it reads on four questions.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Four questions, at a glance

Quality

Return on invested capital, after tax

5.6% Computed

From the FY2025 filing

Read quality

Valuation

Price to earnings

22.63x Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read valuation

Cash generation

Free cash flow yield

-3.0% Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read cash generation

Revenue and net income, as filed

FY2016 Revenue: 19.90B USDFY2016 Net income: 2.53B USDFY2017 Revenue: 23.03B USDFY2017 Net income: 926.0M USDFY2018 Revenue: 23.50B USDFY2018 Net income: 2.30B USDFY2019 Revenue: 21.42B USDFY2019 Net income: 4.74B USDFY2020 Revenue: 20.38B USDFY2020 Net income: 3.10B USDFY2021 Revenue: 23.11B USDFY2021 Net income: 2.31B USDFY2022 Revenue: 29.28B USDFY2022 Net income: 3.43B USDFY2023 Revenue: 25.25B USDFY2023 Net income: 3.98B USDFY2024 Revenue: 26.72B USDFY2024 Net income: 4.40B USDFY2025 Revenue: 29.55B USDFY2025 Net income: 4.34B USD
Revenue Net income10 filed fiscal years, from the annual reports; the table in Filings names each document.
Named tests met
1 of 30 Which tests
The business, and the score behind its five axes

The reading, in brief

Is it cheap

Price to earnings is 22.63x at the close of 2026-10-15 on FY2025 figures; the lines are 15.00x (Graham's defensive ceiling) and, by market convention, 10.00x, 25.00x and 40.00x, and this sits between 15.00x and 25.00x.

Today, against the Regulated Electric industry (36 companies), 22.63x sits at the 74th percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 18.21x to 22.76x.

Is it good

Return on invested capital was 5.6% in FY2025, in the band labelled "Likely below the cost of capital" (below 8.0%), on lines anchored on Damodaran's cost-of-capital data, suggesting returns below the usual cost of the capital employed.

Today, against the Utilities sector (53 companies), 5.6% sits at the 64th percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 4.5% to 6.1%.

Is it safe

Interest coverage was 2.25x in FY2025, in the band labelled "Speculative grade" (1.50x to 3.00x), on lines anchored on Damodaran's interest-coverage table.

Year by year against peers
Whether The Southern Company's return on invested capital stayed above the median of the Utilities sector, year by year. (FY2023 to FY2025, 3 fiscal years of The Southern Company with a comparable figure)
The direction
Which way The Southern Company's return on equity has moved, and how steadily. (FY2016 to FY2025, 10 filed years of The Southern Company)
What could explain it
What in The Southern Company's filed statements could explain the movements. (8 readings drawn from the statement lines The Southern Company filed)
What to check next
What to check next on The Southern Company, and where in its filings. (9 questions for The Southern Company)
In one paragraph
One paragraph on The Southern Company's returns, cash, balance sheet and price. (15 of sixteen figures read for The Southern Company)

These are SO’s filed figures. The research desk says what they mean, against peers and its own years, with what to check next.

Research SOPart of Serious. New accounts start with 30 days of Professional, free, no card.

2 of 10

What changed

The newest filing, what it moved, and when the next one is due.

SEC filingCompany statement

The newest accounts on file are the FY2025 annual report: 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, accession 0000092122-26-000006.

3 of 10

Quality

The returns the business earns on its capital, and the margins behind them.

SEC filingComputed

The Southern Company: returns on capital and margins, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Return on invested capital, after tax5.6% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Return on equity12.1% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Return on capital employed, pre-tax5.3% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Return on assets2.8% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Gross margin
Why n/a

Our archived statements for this filer carry no gross profit line, so there is nothing to compute a gross margin from and trace back to source. That may be because the filer presents no cost of revenue, or because we have not captured the concept. We do not guess which.

n/a ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Operating margin24.6% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Net margin14.7% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
SO 14.7%
DUK 15.7%ETR 13.7%D 18.2%WEC 15.9%NEE 26.5%
13.7%26.5%
Net margin: SO against the 5 companies named under Valuation context, each as filed for its own latest year. Placement only: no average is drawn.

4 of 10

Financial strength

What it owes against what it owns, and whether it can meet what falls due.

SEC filingComputedCompany statement

The Southern Company: leverage, liquidity and distress, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Debt to equity2.08 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Current ratio0.65 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Quick ratio0.65 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Interest coverage2.25x ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Altman Z-score0.94 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Net debt73.20B ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Total assets 155.72BTotal liabilities 116.85BShareholders' equity 36.02BOwnsOwes, and equity
Total assets Total liabilities Shareholders’ equity
The balance sheet, line by line

Financial health

What The Southern Company owned and owed at the end of fiscal 2025, from the balance sheet it filed (10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006).

The Southern Company: balance sheet position
Total assets155.72B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026
Total liabilities116.85B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026
Shareholders' equity36.02B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026
Cash1.64B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026
Total debt74.84B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026
Net debt73.20B
Current ratio0.65
Debt to equity2.08

Read from the filed balance sheet for each year, with the income statement of the same year supplying operating profit where a ratio needs it. Nothing here is a view on whether this company is sound.

5 of 10

Valuation context

What the market charges for it, against its own record and companies like it.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

The Southern Company: what the market charges, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Price to earnings22.63x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
P/E on trailing twelve months22.26x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · Trailing four quarters, each as known on the day; the quarterly filings are listed under Filings
Price to book2.75x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Price to sales3.35x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Enterprise value to EBIT23.62x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Enterprise value to EBITDA12.93x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Price to earnings over growth3.80 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Diluted earnings per share3.92 USD FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Graham number53.66 USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006

We publish no fair value or price target of our own. Value SO on your own assumptions in the DCF workbench, starting from the filed figures.

Its own record, and companies like it

Valuation

What the market charges for The Southern Company today, and the multiples it has carried. No value of ours: the figures are the filings’ and the market’s.

The Southern Company: valuation
Share price89.18 USD
Market capitalisation102.60B USD
Enterprise value to EBITDA12.93x
Graham number53.66 USD
Diluted earnings per share, FY20253.92 USD

Price to earnings on trailing twelve months, a different basis from the fiscal-year P/E above, since Aug 2, 2017: low 9.61x, median 21.96x, high 55.24x, latest 22.26x. 2,311 trading days with a meaningful ratio. Each close over the trailing twelve months of earnings as known that day: a quarter counts from the day it was filed.

Companies like The Southern Company

  1. Duke Energy Corporation (DUK)Market cap 92.69B USD
  2. Entergy Corporation (ETR)Market cap 49.67B USD
  3. Dominion Energy, Inc. (D)Market cap 55.29B USD
  4. WEC Energy Group, Inc. (WEC)Market cap 34.55B USD
  5. NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE)Market cap 164.70B USD

Same industry (Regulated Electric) and size band (Large, 10B to 200B), nearest in market value, net margin and current ratio. Each of those counts equally, by how many of the companies considered sit between the two on it. Closest first: the order is likeness and nothing else.

6 of 10

Cash generation

Whether profit arrives as cash, and what is paid back to shareholders.

SEC filingComputed

The Southern Company: cash generation and what is paid out, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Free cash flow yield-3.0% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Free cash flow-2.94B USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Free cash flow margin-9.9% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Dividend yield3.4% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Payout ratio69.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
FY2016 Free cash flow: -2.42B USDFY2016 Net income: 2.53B USDFY2017 Free cash flow: -1.03B USDFY2017 Net income: 926.0M USDFY2018 Free cash flow: -1.06B USDFY2018 Net income: 2.30B USDFY2019 Free cash flow: -1.77B USDFY2019 Net income: 4.74B USDFY2020 Free cash flow: -826.0M USDFY2020 Net income: 3.10B USDFY2021 Free cash flow: -1.42B USDFY2021 Net income: 2.31B USDFY2022 Free cash flow: -1.62B USDFY2022 Net income: 3.43B USDFY2023 Free cash flow: -1.54B USDFY2023 Net income: 3.98B USDFY2024 Free cash flow: 833.0M USDFY2024 Net income: 4.40B USDFY2025 Free cash flow: -2.94B USDFY2025 Net income: 4.34B USD
Free cash flow Net incomeProfit that arrives as cash stands level with net income; a gap year after year is worth reading about.

7 of 10

Filings

Every figure, the year it is for and the document it was read from.

SEC filingMarket data

The filed figures

Computed from the accounts this company filed with the SEC and, in a ratio with a price in it, the last close, dated on this page. Every filed figure below carries the fiscal year and the filing date its accounts were read from, and every blank carries the reason it is blank. Nothing here is a view on this company.

The Southern Company: the eight ratios, with the fiscal year and filing date behind each.
FigureValueYearAs of
22.63xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
2.75xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
23.62xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
-3.0%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
5.6%FY2025Feb 19, 2026
3.4%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
2.08FY2025Feb 19, 2026
0.65FY2025Feb 19, 2026
3.35xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
3.80FY2025Oct 15, 2026
0.94FY2025Oct 15, 2026
-2.61FY2025Feb 19, 2026
4/9FY2025Feb 19, 2026

The figures are computed from the accounts for fiscal 2025, the newest full year on file. 10 filed fiscal years on record, FY2016 to FY2025, from SEC EDGAR. Prices as of Oct 15, 2026. Ratios recomputed Oct 15, 2026. Two facts, because a recompute is not a fresh quote.

The year and the filing date name the statement each figure’s accounts are read from, and they stand even where the figure itself could not be computed: the line beneath a blank says what that statement did not carry. A figure’s name opens its formula and the filings behind it; a statement that names no SEC filing has no filing date, and reads n/a.

Ten years of filed figures, year by year

Ten years of filed figures

10 filed fiscal years, FY2016 to FY2025, read from the annual reports The Southern Company filed with the SEC. Each year names its filing. Amounts in USD, as filed.

The Southern Company: revenue, earnings, free cash flow and returns, by fiscal year, with the filing each year was read from
YearRevenueOperating incomeNet incomeEPS, dilutedFree cash flowOperating marginReturn on equityFiling
FY202529.55B7.29B4.34B3.92-2.94B24.6%12.1%10-K, Feb 19, 20260000092122-26-000006
FY202426.72B7.07B4.40B3.99833.0M26.4%13.3%10-K, Feb 20, 20250000092122-25-000018
FY202325.25B5.83B3.98B3.62-1.54B23.1%12.6%10-K, Feb 15, 20240000092122-24-000009
FY202229.28B5.37B3.43B3.26-1.62B18.3%11.3%10-K, Feb 16, 20230000092122-23-000012
FY202123.11B3.70B2.31B2.24-1.42B16.0%8.3%10-K, Feb 17, 20220000092122-22-000003
FY202020.38B4.88B3.10B2.93-826.0M24.0%11.1%10-K, Feb 18, 20210000092122-21-000006
FY201921.42B7.74B4.74B4.50-1.77B36.1%17.3%10-K, Feb 20, 20200000092122-20-000017
FY201823.50B4.19B2.30B2.17-1.06B17.8%9.3%10-K, Feb 20, 20190000092122-19-000006
FY201723.03B2.33B926.0M0.84-1.03B10.1%3.8%10-K, Feb 21, 20180000092122-18-000012
FY201619.90B4.49B2.53B2.55-2.42B22.6%10.2%10-K, Feb 22, 20170000092122-17-000007
  • Revenue, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 4.5%
  • Earnings, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 6.2%
  • Earnings per share, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 4.9%
  • Free cash flow: Free cash flow was not positive in both 2016 and 2025, so a compound rate across the window is not defined. Both figures are in the table.

Every figure in this section is a line of a filed annual statement or a ratio of two of them. Nothing here is estimated or smoothed. Earnings per share filed before a share split are put on today's share count, and say so. Nothing here is a verdict on the company.

8 of 10

Risks and guardrails

The accounting screens, the published tests, and the lines you can set to be told.

ComputedCompany statement

The Southern Company: accounting screens and published tests, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Beneish M-score-2.61 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Piotroski F-score4/9 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 19, 2026, 0000092122-26-000006
Named tests met1 of 30 Computed
Beta-0.04 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026

The named tests

Of 30 tests value investors published: 1 met, 29 not met, 0 we could not complete. Counts, never a score: a single figure would have to decide that meeting one investor’s criteria and meeting another’s are worth the same.

Which tests, by name(all 30)
Meets
ROIC at or above WACC
Does not
Defensive investor (Benjamin Graham); Deep value; Large cap, low P/E; Earnings yield and ROIC (Joel Greenblatt); High F-score, low P/B (Joseph Piotroski); Three forensic scores; Low PEG, low debt (Peter Lynch); High returns and growth; Gross margin, turnover (Robert Novy-Marx); EV/EBITDA and coverage; High yield, low payout; Dividends and buybacks; Low beta, profitable; Near the 52-week low; Z-score and coverage (Edward Altman); Two thirds of NCAV (Benjamin Graham); P/E times P/B (Benjamin Graham); High returns, low debt; Owner earnings yield; High return on tangibles; Low P/S, rising earnings (James O'Shaughnessy); Book or below, low debt (Walter Schloss); Cash-covered dividend; Tangible book or below; Cash-flow yield and ROIC; Clean books, high ROIC; Cheapest quarter on P/E (David Dreman); Cheapest quarter on P/B (David Dreman); Low P/E, growth, yield (John Neff)
Figures we could not read(3)
  • Current Ratio: Graham set this test for industrial companies; for utilities he tested debt against equity.
  • Altman Z-Score: Altman fitted the Z-score on manufacturers; it is not measured for a utility.
  • Gross Margin: Our archived statements for this filer carry no gross profit line, so there is nothing to compute a gross margin from and trace back to source. That may be because the filer presents no cost of revenue, or because we have not captured the concept. We do not guess which.

9 of 10

Declared positions

Whether anybody here owns this company.

Positions declared by the founder: no holding in any company shown here, as of October 3, 2026.

10 of 10

Next step

What to do with what you have read.

A thesis is your reason for owning it, in your words, with the figures that must stay true. Checking those figures every night against the newest filed accounts, and telling you once when one breaks, is what the subscription adds.

More on this company

What this cannot tell you

  • 3 figures could not be read on this company: Current Ratio, Altman Z-Score, Gross Margin.

And the one that is true of all of it: This is what the numbers say today. It cannot tell you the day one of them stops being true. Nothing here can, because the reasons are not written down.

Running this once is arithmetic on public documents and you are welcome to it. Writing down why you own each company, in your own words and with the numbers that have to stay true for it to hold, and then having those numbers re-checked every night against the newest filed accounts, and against the latest close where a rule watches a price, is Professional, the plan a new account starts on for 30 days, one trial per person. It writes to you the day one breaks, and stays quiet when nothing does. The check runs every night at 23:30 UTC. A filing is picked up the night after it is published.

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Analyze your own portfolio

ValueScreener · valuescreener.ai · Computed from accounts filed with the SEC by this company, read from EDGAR, and from dated closing prices. On this page a filed figure opens into its formula, its inputs and the statement, fiscal year and filing date it was read from, and a price into the day of its close. A figure that cannot show that trail says so.

A computation on accounts filed with the SEC, not a recommendation and not advice. Past filings do not indicate future results. Risk disclaimer.

Once a week, what changed in the filings of US-listed companies, why it can matter to a thesis, and what deserves a closer review. Grounded in filings, not market noise.

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Risk disclaimer. This service is provided for research and education only. Nothing on it is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Capital is at risk, and past performance does not indicate future results. Figures come from filed accounts and may be incomplete, delayed or later restated, so verify a number against the filing before you act on it.