Southern Co. (SO) closed the most recent trading day at $46.79, moving +1.36% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.65%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.71%.

Heading into today, shares of the power company had gained 0.35% over the past month, outpacing the Utilities sector's loss of 4.3% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.58% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 20, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.22, down 56.86% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.35 billion, down 4.88% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SO. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.08% higher. SO is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, SO is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 15.32. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.72, so we one might conclude that SO is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that SO has a PEG ratio of 3.41 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Utility - Electric Power was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.13 at yesterday's closing price.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 76, putting it in the top 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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