# The Southern Company (SO) — Stock CV

The Southern Company is a $99.1B utility company. Revenue grew 6.4% over the last year, it keeps 15¢ of every dollar of sales as profit, and it carries $64.7B of net debt. It trades at 21.3× earnings — around the middle of its own history.

> Southern is one of the largest utilities in the US. The company serves 9 million customers with vertically integrated electric utilities in three states and natural gas distribution utilities in four states.

## Identity

- **Ticker**: SO
- **Sector**: Utilities
- **Industry**: Electric Services
- **Headquarters**: ATLANTA, GA
- **Employees**: 29 800
- **Website**: https://www.southerncompany.com
- **Market cap**: $99.1B
- **Last price**: $86.16
- **Financial profile**: Strained

## Vitals (TTM)

- **Revenue**: $30.2B
- **Net income**: $4.66B
- **Free cash flow**: -$3.49B
- **Net debt**: $64.7B
- **P/E**: 21.3
- **Revenue growth (YoY)**: 6.4%

## Skills (profile scores, 0–100)

| Pillar | Score |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 60 |
| Growth | 52 |
| Profitability | 62 |
| Health | 24 |
| Quality | 47 |
| Moat | 25 |

## Qualifications (beginner checklist) — 8 of 11 passed

- [x] Revenue growing — +6.4% YoY
- [x] Profitable — $4.66B TTM
- [x] Profit growing — +6.2% YoY
- [ ] Generates cash — -$3.49B TTM
- [ ] Debt under control — current ratio 0.79
- [x] Established company — $99.1B market cap
- [x] Not printing shares — +5.2% shares over ~5y
- [x] Proven track record — 9/9 profitable years
- [ ] Financially stable — Altman Z 0.8 — distress
- [x] Pays a dividend — yield 3.13%
- [x] Valuation not extreme — P/E 21.3

## Experience (career milestones)

- **2026** — The United States Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a $26.54 billion loan to Southern Company,…
- **2025** — Southern Company, a for-profit corporation, is one of the largest energy providers in the United States and in 2025,…
- **2023** — It was announced Southern Company's subsidiary, Southern Power had acquired the 200MW Millers…
- **FY2019** — Best year on record: $4.74B net income
- **FY2016** — Profitable every year on record: 9 consecutive profitable years in our data
- **FY2016** — Revenue already above $10B: $19.9B in first reported year
- **2016** — Southern Company acquired PowerSecure, a distributed energy infrastructure technologies company
- **2011** — Southern Company and Turner Renewable Energy purchased a 30 MW solar project from First Solar
- **Apr 2, 2001** — Southern Company completed the spinoff of Southern Energy as Mirant Corporation
- **1981** — Southern Company became the first electric utility holding company in 46 years to diversify its operations…
- **Nov 9, 1945** — A new holding company, Southern Company, was incorporated in Delaware on November 9, 1945
- **1926** — It merged with Georgia Power (formed 1902)

## Strengths

- High gross margin (40.0%)

## Watch-outs

- Negative free cash flow (-$3.5B)
- Altman Z-Score 0.77 — elevated financial-distress risk

## Track record

| Year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $23.1B | $2.39B | -$1.42B |
| FY2022 | $29.3B | $354M | -$1.62B |
| FY2023 | $25.3B | $3.98B | -$1.54B |
| FY2024 | $26.7B | $4.40B | $833M |
| FY2025 | $29.6B | $4.34B | -$2.94B |

---

Source: https://stockcv.com/SO — derived from company filings; may be delayed or incomplete. Information, not investment advice.