Last Updated: 31 May 2026
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is one of the largest regulated utility holding companies in the United States, supplying electricity and natural gas to roughly 9 million customers across the Southeast through Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. With Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 now in service, Southern owns the largest nuclear plant in the country and is positioning its regulated franchises to serve a wave of data-centre driven electricity demand. This report reviews the company's most recently reported results (full-year 2025 and first-quarter 2026) using only company filings and press releases.
1. Company Snapshot
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | NYSE: SO |
| Sector / Industry | Utilities — Regulated Electric & Gas |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Employees | Approximately 30,000 |
| CEO / Leadership | Chris Womack (Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer); David P. Poroch (CFO) |
| Customers served | ~9.0 million (electric in 3 states; gas in 4 states) |
| Market cap | ~$104 billion (May 2026) |
| FY2025 revenue | $29.55 billion |
| FY2025 net income (GAAP) | $4.34 billion |
| FY2025 GAAP EPS (basic) | $3.94 |
| FY2025 adjusted EPS | $4.30 |
| Dividend (annualised) | $3.04 per share (~3.3% yield); 25th consecutive annual increase |
| 52-week range | $83.80 – $100.84 |
2. Bull and Bear Case
Bull Case
- Data-centre demand supercycle: Data-centre electricity use jumped 42% year-on-year in Q1 2026, with around 11 GW under contract and a load pipeline exceeding 75 GW — a multi-year tailwind for rate-base growth.
- Vogtle is finished: Units 3 and 4 are operating, giving Southern the largest US nuclear plant (4,536 MW) and scarce carbon-free baseload power that hyperscalers value, with the construction risk now behind it.
- Constructive regulation: A Georgia Power base-rate freeze through at least 2028 reduces near-term friction while the company recovers investment through riders and large-load tariffs.
- Dividend reliability: A 25th consecutive annual increase to a $3.04 annualised rate underpins the total-return case for income investors.
- Visible investment runway: An $81 billion 2026–2030 capital plan supports durable regulated earnings growth.
Bear Case
- Negative free cash flow: FY2025 capital expenditure of $12.7 billion exceeded $9.8 billion of operating cash flow, producing roughly −$2.9 billion of free cash flow that must be funded with external capital.
- Rising debt and interest costs: Long-term debt stands around $65.6 billion and net interest expense rose to $3.24 billion in 2025, a headwind if rates stay elevated.
- Execution on load growth: The data-centre pipeline must convert into contracted, paying demand and be matched with new generation and transmission on time and on budget.
- Regulatory and storm-cost risk: Pending fuel and storm-cost recovery cases and future ROE decisions can swing earnings.
- Premium valuation: At roughly 23x trailing GAAP earnings, the shares price in much of the growth, leaving limited room for disappointment.
3. Business Segments
Southern Company operates through regulated electric utilities, a regulated gas distribution business and a competitive wholesale generation arm. The table shows each segment's share of FY2025 operating revenues (before intercompany eliminations).
| Segment | % of revenue | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia Power | ~43% | Regulated electric utility serving Georgia; largest subsidiary; host of Plant Vogtle. FY2025 revenue $12.63bn. |
| Alabama Power | ~28% | Regulated electric utility serving Alabama. FY2025 revenue $8.24bn. |
| Southern Company Gas | ~17% | Regulated natural-gas distribution across four states (incl. Nicor Gas, Atlanta Gas Light). FY2025 revenue $5.04bn. |
| Southern Power | ~7% | Competitive wholesale generation (gas and renewables) sold largely under long-term contracts. FY2025 revenue $2.20bn. |
| Mississippi Power | ~6% | Regulated electric utility serving south-east Mississippi. FY2025 revenue $1.70bn. |
4. Business Model and Moat
How it makes money. The great majority of Southern's earnings come from regulated electric and gas utilities, which earn a state-commission-authorised return on the capital ("rate base") they invest in generation, transmission, distribution and storage. Customer bills recover fuel, operating costs and a regulated profit, so earnings grow primarily as rate base grows.
Why the moat is durable. Utilities are natural monopolies within their service territories, protected by the enormous cost of duplicating networks and by regulatory franchises. Southern's scale, its completed nuclear fleet and its Southeast footprint — one of the fastest-growing US power-demand regions — reinforce that position.
What management is prioritising. CEO Chris Womack has framed an "all-of-the-above" generation strategy to serve forecast "generational" load growth from data centres and electrification while protecting rate stability for existing customers, funded by an $81 billion five-year capital plan.
5. Financial Health
Full-year figures are from Southern Company's audited results and quarterly press releases. Revenue is shown in US dollars.
| Year | Revenue ($m) | YoY % | GAAP EPS | Adjusted EPS | Dividend/share | Long-term debt (YE, $bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23,113 | — | 2.24 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | 29,279 | +26.7% | 3.26 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | 25,253 | -13.8% | 3.62 | — | — | 57.2 |
| 2024 | 26,724 | +5.8% | 4.02 | 4.05 | 2.86 | 58.8 |
| 2025 | 29,553 | +10.6% | 3.94 | 4.30 | 2.94 | 65.6 |
FY2025 operating income was $7.29bn and depreciation and amortisation was $5.50bn. Operating cash flow was $9.8bn against capital expenditure of $12.7bn, so free cash flow was about −$2.9bn — typical for a utility in a heavy build cycle. The quarterly table below shows the most recent periods, with the full-year 2025 total in bold.
| Quarter | Revenue | Adjusted EPS | GAAP EPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $8.40bn | $1.32 | $1.21 |
| Q4 2025 | $6.98bn | $0.55 | $0.38 |
| Q3 2025 | $7.80bn | $1.60 | $1.55 |
| Q2 2025 | $7.00bn | $0.92 | $0.80 |
| Q1 2025 | $7.78bn | $1.23 | $1.21 |
| FY 2025 | $29.55bn | $4.30 | $3.94 |
6. Valuation
Raw metrics, May 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Market cap | ~$104bn |
| Trailing P/E (GAAP) | ~23.3x (price ~$91.66 / FY2025 GAAP EPS $3.94) |
| P/E (forward) | ~20x (price ~$91.66 / ~$4.55 estimated FY2026 adjusted EPS, midpoint of Southern's 5–7% long-term EPS growth target off the $4.30 FY2025 base) |
| P/S (TTM) | ~3.5x (market cap ~$104bn / revenue $29.55bn) |
| EV/EBITDA (TTM) | ~13.4x (EV ~$171bn / EBITDA ~$12.8bn; EBITDA = operating income $7.29bn + D&A $5.50bn) |
| P/FCF | Not meaningful — FY2025 free cash flow was about −$2.9bn (operating cash flow $9.8bn − capex $12.7bn); regulated utilities fund rate-base growth with external capital |
| Enterprise value | ~$171bn (market cap ~$104bn + total debt ~$68.5bn − cash ~$1.5bn per FY2025 balance sheet; cash is immaterial) |
| 52-week high | $100.84 |
| 52-week low | $83.80 |
| Short interest (% of float) | ~1.9% (latest NYSE semi-monthly data; ~21m shares short) |
| Days to cover | ~5.8 |
7. Growth Drivers
The dominant driver is electricity load growth. Southern reported 28 large-load projects under contract representing about 11 GW, up from 26 projects and 10 GW at the end of 2025, with a broader pipeline exceeding 75 GW — much of it data centres serving artificial-intelligence workloads. To serve this, management raised its 2026–2030 capital plan to roughly $81 billion, the bulk of it regulated investment that grows rate base and therefore earnings.
Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, now fully in service, provide carbon-free baseload generation that is increasingly scarce and valuable to hyperscale customers. Georgia Power's company-owned capacity projects total roughly $16.3 billion, with about $14 billion expected to be spent from 2026 through 2029. Continued customer growth across Georgia and Alabama, plus electrification, supplements the data-centre theme. For ongoing coverage of macro and rate catalysts, see the ChartsView Economic Calendar.
8. Peer Comparison
| Peer | Market cap (May 2026) | Key 2025/2026 metric |
|---|---|---|
| NextEra Energy (NEE) | ~$180bn | Largest US utility by market cap; leading renewables developer; agreed to acquire Dominion |
| Duke Energy (DUK) | ~$95bn | $102bn capital plan through 2030; large Southeast/Midwest regulated footprint |
| Dominion Energy (D) | ~$56bn | Heavy Virginia data-centre exposure; pending combination with NextEra |
9. Insider Activity
Recent Form 4 filings show routine executive sales and equity-plan activity rather than open-market buying.
| Name | Date | Type | Shares | Price | Value | Plan Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberly S. Greene (Chair/CEO, Georgia Power) | 02 Apr 2026 | Sale | 25,000 | $96.67 | ~$2,416,750 | Open-market sale |
| Matthew M. Kim (Comptroller) | 01 Apr 2026 | Sale | 100 | $96.57 | ~$9,657 | Post-vesting / tax |
10. Key Risks
- Capital intensity and negative free cash flow: Sustained multi-billion-dollar capex above operating cash flow keeps the company reliant on debt and equity issuance.
- Interest-rate and leverage risk: Long-term debt of ~$65.6bn and rising net interest expense pressure earnings if rates remain high.
- Regulatory risk: Rate cases, ROE and equity-ratio decisions, fuel and storm-cost recovery, and large-load tariff design directly affect returns.
- Load-growth execution: Data-centre demand must convert to firm contracts and be matched with timely generation and transmission additions.
- Operational and nuclear hazards: Operating nuclear, gas and grid assets carries safety, outage and catastrophe risk.
- Macro and weather: Economic conditions, inflation, tariffs and severe weather can affect demand, costs and recovery timing.
11. Recent Developments
- 30 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 results. Operating revenues rose about 8% to $8.40bn; adjusted EPS was $1.32 (GAAP $1.21), helped by customer growth and a 42% jump in data-centre demand.
- 19 Feb 2026 — Q4 and full-year 2025 results. Full-year revenue of $29.55bn (+10.6%); GAAP EPS $3.94 and adjusted EPS $4.30; Q4 revenue $6.98bn.
- 18 May 2026 — sector consolidation. NextEra agreed to acquire Dominion Energy in a deal that would create the largest US regulated electric utility, underscoring scale dynamics in the sector.
- 20 Apr 2026 — dividend increase. The board raised the quarterly dividend to $0.76 per share, a 25th consecutive year of increases.
12. Key Dates
- 30 Jul 2026 — expected second-quarter 2026 earnings release
- 06 Jun 2026 — approximate quarterly dividend payment date ($0.76 per share)
- 19 Feb 2027 — expected fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 results (based on prior-year timing)
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Disclaimer: This research is produced by ChartsView for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All information is sourced from publicly available company filings, press releases, and official data. ChartsView does not use analyst opinions or third-party ratings. Always conduct your own due diligence and consider your personal financial situation before making investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.