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SO

The Southern Company

NYQ · Utilities

$90.28

$0.18 (+0.20%)up 0.20%

25 August 2026 · delayed 15+ min

F

Quality score53.8 / 100

Cut-offs are the grader's own: 97+ for an A+, below 60 is an F.

The Southern Company earns a F on good profit margins (>10%) and strong earnings growth (>20%) but current ratio below 1.0 (liquidity concerns) and high debt-to-equity ratio (>2.0). Consider alternatives with better risk/reward profiles.

Model stance WEAK HOLD Suggested position 4.0% · $400.00 IQInvest estimate
Adjusted for Moderate investors, Medium-term investors 4.0% suggested allocation Change these

These change the suggested position size and the stance, not the category scores. Amount is in dollars.

IQ-SO-20260825engine v1 · 7-category weighted scorecard

What it is worth, depending who you ask.

Today’s price against the year it has had and the targets analysts publish. Every marker is a reported figure, not a projection of ours.

Lowest analyst target

$79.00

52-week low

$83.80

Today's price

$90.28

Mean analyst target

$100.29

52-week high

$100.84

Highest analyst target

$114.00

SO trades 38% of the way up its 52-week range, between $83.80 and $100.84. The mean analyst target of $100.29 is 11.1% above today's price.

Today’s price 52-week range Analyst price targets

Scored categories

Financial healthGood profit margins (>10%); Strong earnings growth (>20%); Current ratio below 1.0 (liquidity concerns); High debt-to-equity ratio (>2.0) 40.023%

Profit margin

15.43%

Net profit per unit of revenue

healthyWhat this means

Of every 100 units of revenue, this much survives as profit.

A comfortable buffer between revenue and costs.

Operating margin

29.61%

Before interest and tax

very highWhat this means

Profit from operations, before interest and tax, per 100 of revenue.

Typical of software and other businesses with little cost per extra sale.

Gross margin

48.29%

After the cost of goods only

moderateWhat this means

What is left of revenue after only the direct cost of the product.

A conventional manufacturing or mixed-model range.

Return on equity

11.48%

Profit per unit of shareholder capital

strongWhat this means

Profit generated per unit of shareholder capital.

Above 15% is generally considered a good business.

Return on assets

3.27%

Profit per unit of assets

lowWhat this means

Profit generated per unit of everything the company owns.

Common in asset-heavy industries such as utilities, telecoms and airlines.

Debt to equity

182.06

Borrowings against equity

heavily gearedWhat this means

Borrowings measured against shareholder capital.

Debt magnifies both good years and bad, and raises the stakes when rates rise.

Current ratio

0.79

Short-term assets over short-term debts

tightWhat this means

Short-term assets against short-term obligations.

Below 1 the company owes more within a year than it holds — workable if customers pay up front, risky otherwise.

Quick ratio

0.44

As above, excluding inventory

tightWhat this means

Short-term assets excluding inventory, against short-term debts.

Very little liquid cover if receipts slow down.

Revenue growth

0.10%

Year on year

flatWhat this means

Change in revenue against the same period last year.

Growing slower than a typical economy — the business is mature or under pressure.

Earnings growth

30.40%

Year on year

very strongWhat this means

Change in earnings against the same period last year.

Check whether it is repeatable or a one-off — a single asset sale can flatter this badly.

Revenue

$8.40B

Trailing twelve months

Free cash flow

$-3.91B

Cash left after capital spending

Operating cash flow

$10.65B

Cash from the business itself

Payout ratio

71.81%

Dividends as a share of earnings

highWhat this means

The share of earnings paid out as dividends.

Most of the profit goes out of the door, leaving less to reinvest.

Growth & momentumLow volatility 65.022%

Return, 1 month

-5.95%

Return, 3 months

-2.90%

Return, 6 months

-4.32%

Return, year to date

6.10%

Return, 1 year

0.14%

Return, 3 years

48.07%

Sharpe ratio

0.52

Return earned per unit of risk

modestWhat this means

Return earned per unit of risk taken.

Below 1 is the common case; return did not strongly outpace the volatility.

Win rate

51.67%

Share of days that closed up

about evenWhat this means

The share of trading days that closed higher.

Close to a coin flip, which is the norm — returns come from the size of moves, not their count.

Average daily return

0.05%

Best day

4.85%

Worst day

-4.70%

ValuationHigh PEG ratio (2.26) 50.018%

P/E ratio

21.75

Price against trailing earnings

moderateWhat this means

You pay 21.75 for every 1 unit of annual earnings.

Roughly the long-run market average band.

Forward P/E

18.33

Price against forecast earnings

moderateWhat this means

Price against next year's *forecast* earnings.

A conventional range.

PEG ratio

2.26

P/E adjusted for growth

expensive for the growthWhat this means

P/E divided by the growth rate — it asks whether the price is justified by the growth.

Above 2 you pay more per unit of growth than the convention treats as reasonable.

Price to book

2.62

Price against balance-sheet equity

normalWhat this means

Price against the accounting value of the company's net assets.

A typical range for an established company.

Price to sales

3.44

Price against revenue

moderateWhat this means

Price against revenue — usable when a company has no profit yet.

A common range for a profitable, growing business.

EV / EBITDA

12.66

Whole-company value against cash earnings

moderateWhat this means

Whole-company value, debt included, against cash earnings.

A conventional range.

Enterprise value

$180.52B

Market value plus debt, minus cash — the price of the whole business

Shares outstanding

1,150,362,966

Shares the profit is split across

Dividend yield

3.37%

Annual dividend against price

meaningfulWhat this means

Annual dividend as a percentage of the share price.

A substantial part of the total return arrives as income.

TechnicalRSI in healthy range (30-70); MACD bearish (negative histogram) 55.015%

RSI (14)

39.6

Above 70 overbought, below 30 oversold

neutralWhat this means

A 0–100 momentum gauge over the last 14 sessions.

The middle band, where most trading days sit.

MACD

-0.95

Momentum against its own trend

MACD histogram

-0.18

Positive is bullish

ADX

13.3

Trend strength; above 25 is a real trend

no clear trendWhat this means

Trend strength, regardless of direction.

Below about 20 the price is ranging rather than trending.

20-day average

$91.93

50-day average

$93.63

200-day average

$91.03

Price vs 50-day

-3.58%

Price vs 200-day

-0.82%

Bollinger upper

$94.60

Bollinger lower

$89.26

Average true range

1.61

Typical daily trading range

Stochastic %K

30.0

RiskLow volatility risk 50.012%

Volatility, annualised

18.77%

How far it swings in a year

calmWhat this means

How far the price typically swings over a year.

Steadier than the broad market's long-run average.

Beta

0.33

Moves against the wider market

steadier than the marketWhat this means

How much the price moves relative to the wider market.

Tends to move less than the index, in both directions.

Maximum drawdown

-23.28%

Worst peak-to-trough fall

containedWhat this means

The worst peak-to-trough fall in the period measured.

No catastrophic fall in this window.

Risk category

Moderate

The engine's own banding

Analyst view6 measured figures 70.010%

Consensus

Hold

What covering analysts rate it

Analysts covering

19

Mean price target

$100.29

Highest target

$114.00

Lowest target

$79.00

Implied upside

11.09%

Target against today's price

meaningfulWhat this means

How far the mean analyst target sits above today's price.

Analysts see real room above today's price.

Price against the S&P 500

180 trading days to 2026-08-25

SO is 7.2% up over the window, against 11.6% up for the S&P 500 — behind by 4.4 points.
SO +7.2%S&P 500 +11.6%
Show the numbers
Sampled across the window. Both columns are rebased to 100 on 2025-12-05, so they can be compared directly.
DateCloseSO rebasedS&P 500 rebased
2025-12-05$84.21100.0100.0
2025-12-29$85.44101.5100.5
2026-01-21$87.01103.3100.1
2026-02-11$88.68105.3101.0
2026-03-05$95.61113.599.4
2026-03-26$93.86111.594.3
2026-04-17$92.97110.4103.7
2026-05-08$90.30107.2107.7
2026-06-01$88.30104.9110.6
2026-06-23$94.15111.8107.2
2026-07-15$93.83111.4110.2
2026-08-05$92.34109.7112.4

How the score was built

Each category is scored 0–100, then multiplied by its weight. The seven contributions sum to the quality score.
CategoryScoreWeightContribution
Financial health40.023%9.2
Growth & momentum65.022%14.3
Valuation50.018%9.0
Technical55.015%8.2
Risk50.012%6.0
Analyst view70.010%7.0
ESG50.00%0.0
Quality score100%53.8

ESG is scored but carries no weight in this grade. Add ?esg=1 to the address to include it — the engine then redistributes weight across the other six, so the whole scorecard changes, not just one row.

Argue with the model

Every other grader hands you a number. This one hands you the model.

Move a slider, press Recalculate, and the grade is rebuilt from the same category scores. Nothing is hidden: the scores are the engine's, only the weighting is yours.

18%
23%
22%
12%
15%
10%
0%

These are IQInvest's own weights, totalling 100%.

Your grade

F

53.8 / 100

Identical to the IQInvest grade.

All 66 metricsOne flat sortable table, for when you want everything at once.
Metric Category Value Source
Shares outstandingValuation1,150,362,966Yahoo Finance
Price to salesValuation3.44Yahoo Finance
Price to bookValuation2.62Yahoo Finance
PEG ratioValuation2.26Yahoo Finance
P/E ratioValuation21.75Yahoo Finance
Forward P/EValuation18.33Yahoo Finance
EV / EBITDAValuation12.66Yahoo Finance
Enterprise valueValuation$180.52BYahoo Finance
Dividend yieldValuation3.37%Yahoo Finance
Stochastic %KTechnical30.0Yahoo Finance
RSI (14)Technical39.6Yahoo Finance
Price vs 50-dayTechnical-3.58%Yahoo Finance
Price vs 200-dayTechnical-0.82%Yahoo Finance
MACD histogramTechnical-0.18Yahoo Finance
MACDTechnical-0.95Yahoo Finance
Bollinger upperTechnical$94.60Yahoo Finance
Bollinger lowerTechnical$89.26Yahoo Finance
Average true rangeTechnical1.61Yahoo Finance
ADXTechnical13.3Yahoo Finance
50-day averageTechnical$93.63Yahoo Finance
200-day averageTechnical$91.03Yahoo Finance
20-day averageTechnical$91.93Yahoo Finance
Volatility, annualisedRisk18.77%Yahoo Finance
Risk categoryRiskModerateYahoo Finance
Maximum drawdownRisk-23.28%Yahoo Finance
BetaRisk0.33Yahoo Finance
VolumeMarket data1,615,878Yahoo Finance
Previous closeMarket data$90.10Yahoo Finance
OpenMarket data$90.00Yahoo Finance
EmployeesMarket data29,502Yahoo Finance
Day lowMarket data$89.81Yahoo Finance
Day highMarket data$90.54Yahoo Finance
Average volumeMarket data5,850,779Yahoo Finance
52-week lowMarket data$83.80Yahoo Finance
52-week highMarket data$100.84Yahoo Finance
Worst dayGrowth & momentum-4.70%Yahoo Finance
Win rateGrowth & momentum51.67%Yahoo Finance
Sharpe ratioGrowth & momentum0.52Yahoo Finance
Return, year to dateGrowth & momentum6.10%Yahoo Finance
Return, 6 monthsGrowth & momentum-4.32%Yahoo Finance
Return, 3 yearsGrowth & momentum48.07%Yahoo Finance
Return, 3 monthsGrowth & momentum-2.90%Yahoo Finance
Return, 1 yearGrowth & momentum0.14%Yahoo Finance
Return, 1 monthGrowth & momentum-5.95%Yahoo Finance
Best dayGrowth & momentum4.85%Yahoo Finance
Average daily returnGrowth & momentum0.05%Yahoo Finance
Revenue growthFinancial health0.10%Yahoo Finance
RevenueFinancial health$8.40BYahoo Finance
Return on equityFinancial health11.48%Yahoo Finance
Return on assetsFinancial health3.27%Yahoo Finance
Quick ratioFinancial health0.44Yahoo Finance
Profit marginFinancial health15.43%Yahoo Finance
Payout ratioFinancial health71.81%Yahoo Finance
Operating marginFinancial health29.61%Yahoo Finance
Operating cash flowFinancial health$10.65BYahoo Finance
Gross marginFinancial health48.29%Yahoo Finance
Free cash flowFinancial health$-3.91BYahoo Finance
Earnings growthFinancial health30.40%Yahoo Finance
Debt to equityFinancial health182.06Yahoo Finance
Current ratioFinancial health0.79Yahoo Finance
Mean price targetAnalyst view$100.29Yahoo Finance
Lowest targetAnalyst view$79.00Yahoo Finance
Implied upsideAnalyst view11.09%Yahoo Finance
Highest targetAnalyst view$114.00Yahoo Finance
ConsensusAnalyst viewHoldYahoo Finance
Analysts coveringAnalyst view19Yahoo Finance
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