Southern Co (NYSE: SO) closed yesterday at $31.49. So far the stock has hit a 52-week low of $26.48 and 52-week high of $37.62. Southern Co stock has been showing support around 31.19 and resistance in the 31.93 range. Technical indicators for the stock are Bearish and S&P gives SO a neutral 3 STAR (out of...(Click the story link or go to http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com for the full story)
Traders watch earnings releaseskeenly, as changes in a company’s performance can be a good indication whether a company is on the right track, or headed the wrong way.
A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (APWR) is scheduled to release its earnings results Thursday. The company currently has an earnings per share ratio (EPS trailing twelve months) of .77 and investors are hoping to see that number grow. Let’s take a look at the performance of the stock since its previous earnings release.
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In the past three months, the stock has posted a 45.65% gain in terms of stock price. Over the same period, the Electric Utilities industry group has returned a combined 4.28% gain.
So the eyes of investors turn to this new round of earnings.
Now, good earnings don’t always lead to higher stock prices, but keeping up on earnings is still a vital part of your fundamental stock analysis. Also note that companies often change earnings dates, so you should double-check them often.
When looking at earnings, it’s very helpful to see how stocks compare to others in its industry group. And even though two stocks may not be direct competitors, many analysts and institutional investors still compare them and evaluate them relative to other stocks in their group.
APWR is in the Electric Utilities industry group where it competes for investor dollars with companies like Edenor SA (EDN), which released its earnings on 11/17 and last reported a 22.55% gain in quarter-over-quarter EPS.
Another industry peer, Empire District Electric Co. (EDE) released its earnings on 10/23 and last reported a -27.70% decline in QOQ EPS.
Southern Company(SO) is the stock with the biggest market cap in the Electric Utilities industry at $25.42B. It closed yesterday at $31.77
To better understand how to evaluate earnings announcements and the affect they have on your portfolio, be sure to read Earnings Announcements and EPS.
Citigroup gave the Electric Utilities industry some bad news as it announced a downgrade on one of its stocks.
Allegheny Energy Inc. (AYE) [Chart - News - Analysis] was downgraded from Buy » Hold on 11/11/2009---a negative sign for the stock that investors will have to endure. FYI, Citigroup uses the following rating scale when analyzing stocks: Buy, Hold, Sell.
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Allegheny Energy Inc. has an average analyst recommendation score of 2.2 and competes for investment dollars with Southern Company (SO) [Chart - News - Analysis] and FPL Group Inc. (FPL) [Chart - News - Analysis]---two other stocks in the Electric Utilities industry that have average analyst recommendation scores of 2.6 and 2.5 respectively.
Analyst recommendations are averaged and scored using the following rating scale:
- 1.0 = Strong Buy
- 2.0 = Buy
- 3.0 = Hold
- 4.0 = Sell
- 5.0 = Strong Sell
Why are Upgrades and Initiations Good and Downgrades Bad?
One event that is almost certain to get a reaction from Wall Street is an analyst upgrade or downgrade. Everyone is looking for an edge in the stock market, and quite often, traders turn to stock analysts to get that edge.
Upgrades and coverage initiations are typically good for stocks because they show that analysts either believe that the stock is going to perform better in the future or that the stock is worth covering and providing analysis on.
Downgrades are typically bad for stocks because they show that analysts believe that the stock is going to perform worse in the future.
A stock analysts is a person---typically employed by a large bank, investment firm or analysis company---who devotes his/her life to learning and making predictions about a company and its future performance.
Stock analysts sift through company reports and filings, talk to company management, probe customers and competitors and basically do whatever they can to find out if a company is healthy and growing or sick and shrinking. Because this is incredibly demanding work, stock analysts typically only monitor one or two companies at a time.
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In his Stocks that Pay You advisory, Neil George searches for intriguing income-oriented ideas. Here, he reviews a trio of yield plays related to the airline, utilty and energy sectors.
"One of my favorite individual mini-bonds is from my favorite air transporter AMR Corporation; the company's latest quarterly report showed a slowing of losses, reduced costs and more importantly a major series of capital infusions.
"This continues to bring more and more credibility to the balance sheet and proves out what I've been writing about this company for years now: It has the ability and the wherewithal to pay its investors.
"And while there is value in the common stock, the real value is in the AMR minibonds (NYSE: AAR), which have a stated dividend rate of 7.875%. Currently trading around 18 dollars, this means a yield right now of over 11.2 % paid quarter after quarter.
"Next, one of the very few utility plays I recommend is Southern Company (NYSE: SO). The issue might seem tame with its dividend rate running at 5.2%.
"However, that dividend has continually risen over the past five years by an annual average of over 4%, year after year.
"This is the steadiest of steady companies in the US that keeps generating power and paying its stockholders. No wonder then, that during the same past ten years in which the S&P 500 lost ground, Southern generated gains of over 234.9%.
"Last up is a favored resource company that doesn't need to rely on stratospheric oil and gas prices to make money. Linn Energy (NASDAQ: LINE) is based right here in the US down in Houston,.
"Linn is set up to produce petrol at far below market prices. Its low cost fields keep revenues pumping with triple-digit gains -- and a strategy of paying out a steady cut for shareholders.
"Linn keeps producing for investors. Returns this past year are running at more than 73% -- 15 times better than the biggest oil company in the S&P 500. And that's not a recent fluke.
"Dating from January of 2006, Linn's average annual return is twice that of the biggest US oil company, and more than 3 times that of the average the petrol tracked inside the S&P 500.
"And Linn keeps paying its investors with a dividend running currently at over 10.2%, which has been rising at an average annual rate of more than 29% since the company went public."
Jefferies & Co gave the Electric Utilities industry some bad news as it announced a downgrade on one of its stocks.
NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) [Chart - News - Analysis] was downgraded from Buy » Hold on 10/21/2009---a negative sign for the stock that investors will have to endure. FYI, Jefferies & Co uses the following rating scale when analyzing stocks: Buy, Hold, Underperform, Sell.
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NRG Energy, Inc. has an average analyst recommendation score of 1.7 and competes for investment dollars with Southern Company (SO) [Chart - News - Analysis] and Dominion Resources, Inc. (D) [Chart - News - Analysis]---two other stocks in the Electric Utilities industry that have average analyst recommendation scores of 2.6 and 2.8 respectively.
Analyst recommendations are averaged and scored using the following rating scale:
- 1.0 = Strong Buy
- 2.0 = Buy
- 3.0 = Hold
- 4.0 = Sell
- 5.0 = Strong Sell
Why are Upgrades and Initiations Good and Downgrades Bad?
One event that is almost certain to get a reaction from Wall Street is an analyst upgrade or downgrade. Everyone is looking for an edge in the stock market, and quite often, traders turn to stock analysts to get that edge.
Upgrades and coverage initiations are typically good for stocks because they show that analysts either believe that the stock is going to perform better in the future or that the stock is worth covering and providing analysis on.
Downgrades are typically bad for stocks because they show that analysts believe that the stock is going to perform worse in the future.
A stock analysts is a person---typically employed by a large bank, investment firm or analysis company---who devotes his/her life to learning and making predictions about a company and its future performance.
Stock analysts sift through company reports and filings, talk to company management, probe customers and competitors and basically do whatever they can to find out if a company is healthy and growing or sick and shrinking. Because this is incredibly demanding work, stock analysts typically only monitor one or two companies at a time.
Companies featured in this segment: Duke Energy Incorporated (NYSE:DUK), Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D), Southern Company (NYSE:SO), E.ON AG OTC:EONGY), Electricite de France SA (EPA:EDF), Australasian Resources Limited (ASX:ARH), Citic Pacific Limited (HKG:0267), NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG), Edison International (NYSE:EIX), PepsiCo Corporation (NYSE:PEP)
Companies featured in this segment: NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG), Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR), Dresser-Rand Group Incorporated (NYSE:DRC), Southern Company (NYSE:SO), BP plc (NYSE:BP), American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Hitachi Limited (NYSE:HIT), Arch Coal Incorporated (NYSE:ACI); Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU), China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (NYSE:SNP), Total SA (NYSE:TOT), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (NYSE:CEO), The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ:FWLT), ABB Limited (NYSE:ABB), Boubyan Petrochemical Company KSC (KUW:BPCC), Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company KSC (KUW:ALQURAIN), Technip (OTC:TKPPY), National Bank of Kuwait (KUW:NBK), Kuwait Finance House KSC (KUW:KFIN), Larsen & Toubro Limited (BSE:500510), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (BSE:500312), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (BSE:530965), E.ON (OTC:EONGY), OAO Gazprom (OTC:OGZPY)
Companies featured in this segment: Southern Company (NYSE:SO), Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ:FWLT), American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK), Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO), JPMorgan Chase & Company (NYSE:JPM), Northern Foods plc (LSE:NFDS)
Companies featured in this segment: Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR), American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP), Southern Company (NYSE:SO), ReneSola Limited (NYSE:SOL), POSCO (NYSE:PKX), Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited (NYSE:STP), Ormat Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ORA), Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY), GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK), Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS), AstraZeneca plc’s (NYSE:AZN), Mitsubishi Corporation (OTC:MSBHY), Sharp Corporation (OTC:SHCAY), CSL Limited (ASX:CSL), Mumias Sugar Company Limited (NBO:MSCL), Athi River Mining Limited (NBO:ARM), Kenya Power & Lighting Company Limited (NBO:KPLA), Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company Limited (SEO:047040)
Special Conference
Southern Company CFO Paul Bowers to Present at the 2009 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Power and Gas Leaders Conference Archive for SO
In his 
