Question 1

Which is bigger, SO or XEL?

Accepted Answer

The Southern Company is the larger company — market cap $99.1B vs $46.1B for Xcel Energy, Inc..

Question 2

Which is more profitable, SO or XEL?

Accepted Answer

SO keeps more of each revenue dollar as profit — net margin 15.4% vs 15.3% for XEL.

Question 3

Which stock is cheaper, SO or XEL?

Accepted Answer

On earnings, XEL trades at a lower P/E — 20.2 vs 21.3 for SO. A lower P/E means paying less per dollar of earnings.

Question 4

Which pays a higher dividend, SO or XEL?

Accepted Answer

SO yields 3.13% vs 3.02% for XEL.

Question 5

Which is the better stock — SO or XEL?

Accepted Answer

On reported financials, SO leads 9 of 12 comparable metrics and XEL leads 3. StockCV rates SO “Strained” and XEL “Strained”. This is information, not investment advice — compare the full CVs before drawing conclusions.

Metric	SO	XEL
Price	$86.16	$73.78
Market cap	$99.1B	$46.1B
Revenue (TTM)	$30.2B	$14.6B
Revenue growth	-0.3%	-1.3%
Net margin	15.4%	15.3%
Free cash flow	-$3.49B	-$7.69B
Net cash (debt)	($64.7B)	($33.1B)
1-year price return	-10.4%	-9.2%
P/E	21.3	20.2
P/E vs own history (cheap-side %)	67%	56%
Dividend yield	3.13%	3.02%
Return on equity	13%	10%
Altman Z-score	0.77	0.64
CV checks passed	8 of 11	7 of 11
Employees	29,800	11,534

The Southern Company vs Xcel Energy, Inc.