Sales up 10.6%, free cash flow down to -$2.9B
The latest figures
All key numbers (39) From EDGAR
| EPS (ttm) | 3.91 | Sales (ttm) | 30.2B | Net income (ttm) | 4.4B | Sales growth | +10.6% | EPS growth | -1.8% | Sales Q/Q | +8.0% |
| Free cash flow | -3.5B | Gross margin | - | Oper. margin | 24.2% | Net margin | 14.5% | FCF margin | -11.5% | ROE | 10.9% |
| ROA | 2.8% | R&D / sales | - | Dividend | 2.94 | Debt/Eq | 1.87 | Curr. ratio | 0.65 | Cash | 981.0M |
| Op. cash flow (ttm) | 9.8B | EBITDA | 13.3B | EBITDA margin | 45.1% | Net debt | 73.5B | Quick ratio | 0.65 | Interest cover | 2.71 |
| ROIC | 5.3% | Payout ratio | 75.0% | Tax rate | 16.6% | Shares out. | 1.1B | Shares Y/Y | +0.6% | Book / share | 35.40 |
| Cash / share | 0.87 | Sales / share | 26.77 | Asset turnover | 0.19 | Sales 3Y CAGR | +0.3% | Sales 5Y CAGR | +7.7% | EPS 3Y CAGR | +6.3% |
| EPS 5Y CAGR | +6.0% | Employees | 29,800 | Sales / employee | 1.0M |
Hover or tap a number to see the XBRL line item and filing it comes from; click it to open that filing at SEC. What each number means. Looks wrong? Tell us.
Changes in the numbers
FY2025 against FY2024-
Free cash flow turned negative$833.0M → −$2.9B · Cash from operations − capital expenditure · 10-K ↗
SO against Utilities peers
Ten years, side by side → · All 31 →Each side 0 to 100, ranked against every company we cover: relative position on reported figures, not a buy score. How
Every dot is one of the 31 companies, the better end on the right. Hover a dot for the company.
| Company | Revenue (ttm) | Sales growth | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE | FCF margin | Debt / equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SO Southern Company | $30.2B | +10.6% | - | 14.5% | 10.9% | -11.5% | 1.87 |
| NRG NRG Energy | $35.0B | +9.2% | - | 3.6% | 23.9% | 2.0% | 4.37 |
| DUK Duke Energy | $33.2B | +6.2% | - | 15.5% | 9.4% | -9.9% | 1.66 |
| CEG Constellation Energy | $31.3B | +8.3% | - | 11.1% | 10.8% | 1.0% | 0.77 |
| NEE NextEra Energy | $27.9B | +10.7% | - | 29.4% | 14.8% | - | 1.87 |
| PCG PG&E Corporation | $25.8B | +2.1% | - | 11.8% | 9.0% | -16.5% | 1.89 |
Profitability
2 of 3- ✓Net margin above the peer median14.5% vs 13.8%
- !Return on equity below 15%10.9%
- ✓A profit in every one of 10 years
Balance sheet
0 of 3- !Interest covered less than 5 timesOperating income is 2.7× interest expense
- !Debt larger than equityDebt / equity 1.87 on the latest balance sheet (peer median 1.70)
- !Current ratio below 1Current ratio 0.65
Cash and shareholders
2 of 4- !Free cash flow positive in 1 of 10 years−$2.9B last year
- !Share count up over 5 years+4.1%
- ✓Dividend per share up over 5 years$2.54 → $2.94
- ✓Cash from operations above net income$9.8B vs $4.3B
Each tick is a fact with a fixed rule (on /methodology), not a score or advice. A check without the numbers it needs is left out.
$21.2B of principal due, schedule of Dec 31, 2025
From the balance sheet in the latest 10-K or 10-Q (XBRL). When each part falls due, year by year, and the debt note's own lines are on the Debt tab.
Revenue and net income, FY2016 to FY2025
Revenue 29.6B Net income 4.3BFrom XBRL in each 10-K. Hover a bar for the line item and filing. Full financials →
Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow
SO's income statement, balance sheet and cash flow as reported to the SEC in XBRL, one column per fiscal year. Hover a number to see the line item and filing it comes from. Where a company changed how it tags a line, the first tag it reported for that period is used. A number looks wrong? Tell us.
Revenue by business segment
year to Dec 31, 2025| Revenue | Share | vs year before | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric Utilities | 23.8B | 80.5% | +10.1% |
| Traditional Electric Operating Companies And Southern Power | 23.8B | 80.5% | +10.1% |
| Traditional Electric Operating Companies | 22.1B | 74.6% | +10.4% |
| Southern Company Gas | 5.0B | 17.1% | +13.2% |
| Southern Power | 2.2B | 7.4% | +9.1% |
10-K 0000092122-26-000006, segment and revenue notes (XBRL).
Revenue by product or service
year to Dec 31, 2025| Revenue | Share | vs year before | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail electric revenues | 19.8B | 66.9% | +4.7% |
| Retail revenues | 19.3B | 65.4% | +8.7% |
| Residential | 8.6B | 29.1% | +3.9% |
| Commercial | 7.0B | 23.7% | +6.2% |
| Natural gas revenues | 5.0B | 17.1% | +13.2% |
| Natural gas distribution revenues | 4.5B | 15.1% | +16.7% |
| Industrial | 4.0B | 13.7% | +3.9% |
| Wholesale electric revenues | 2.9B | 10.0% | +21.0% |
| Wholesale electric revenues | 2.4B | 8.0% | +22.8% |
| Residential | 2.2B | 7.3% | +23.4% |
| Other revenues | 1.8B | 6.0% | +9.6% |
| PPA energy revenues | 1.4B | 4.8% | +35.0% |
| Transportation | 1.4B | 4.8% | +10.0% |
| Other electric revenues | 953.0M | 3.2% | +6.4% |
| PPA capacity revenues | 637.0M | 2.2% | -0.6% |
| Other natural gas revenues | 581.0M | 2.0% | +10.7% |
| Gas marketing services | 569.0M | 1.9% | +12.2% |
| Commercial | 527.0M | 1.8% | +26.4% |
| Non-PPA revenues | 299.0M | 1.0% | +32.3% |
| Other | 295.0M | 1.0% | -6.6% |
| Other | 123.0M | 0.4% | -0.8% |
| Industrial | 44.0M | 0.1% | +29.4% |
| Other | 12.0M | 0.0% | -33.3% |
10-K 0000092122-26-000006, segment and revenue notes (XBRL).
Income statement
From EDGAR| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 19.9B | 23.0B | 23.5B | 21.4B | 20.4B | 23.1B | 29.3B | 25.3B | 26.7B | 29.6B |
| Operating income | 4.5B | 2.3B | 4.2B | 7.7B | 4.9B | 3.7B | 5.4B | 5.8B | 7.1B | 7.3B |
| Interest expense | 1.1B | 1.7B | 1.8B | 1.7B | 1.7B | 1.7B | 1.8B | 2.2B | 2.5B | 2.7B |
| Pretax income | 3.5B | 1.1B | 2.7B | 6.5B | 3.5B | 2.6B | 4.2B | 4.3B | 5.2B | 5.0B |
| Income tax | 951.0M | 142.0M | 449.0M | 1.8B | 393.0M | 267.0M | 795.0M | 496.0M | 969.0M | 828.0M |
| Net income | 2.4B | 842.0M | 2.2B | 4.7B | 3.1B | 2.4B | 3.5B | 4.0B | 4.4B | 4.3B |
| EPS (diluted) | 2.55 | 0.84 | 2.17 | 4.50 | 2.93 | 2.24 | 3.26 | 3.62 | 3.99 | 3.92 |
| Diluted shares | 958.0M | 1.0B | 1.0B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B | 1.1B |
| Depreciation & amortization | 2.9B | 3.5B | 3.5B | 3.3B | 3.9B | 4.0B | 4.1B | 5.0B | 5.3B | 6.0B |
| EBITDA | 7.4B | 5.8B | 7.7B | 11.1B | 8.8B | 7.7B | 9.4B | 10.8B | 12.3B | 13.3B |
| Operating margin | 22.5% | 10.1% | 17.8% | 36.1% | 24.0% | 16.0% | 18.3% | 23.1% | 26.4% | 24.7% |
| Net margin | 12.3% | 3.7% | 9.5% | 22.1% | 15.3% | 10.4% | 12.0% | 15.7% | 16.5% | 14.7% |
| Revenue growth | - | +15.8% | +2.0% | -8.8% | -4.9% | +13.4% | +26.7% | -13.8% | +5.8% | +10.6% |
| EPS growth | - | -67.1% | +158% | +107% | -34.9% | -23.5% | +45.5% | +11.0% | +10.2% | -1.8% |
Balance sheet
From EDGAR| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | 2.0B | 2.1B | 1.4B | 2.0B | 1.1B | 1.8B | 1.9B | 748.0M | 1.1B | 1.6B |
| Current assets | 9.7B | 10.1B | 9.6B | 9.8B | 8.6B | 9.0B | 10.4B | 10.4B | 10.7B | 10.9B |
| Property & equipment | 78.4B | 79.9B | 80.8B | 83.1B | 87.6B | 91.1B | 94.6B | 99.8B | - | - |
| Goodwill | 6.3B | 6.3B | 5.3B | 5.3B | 5.3B | 5.3B | 5.2B | 5.2B | 5.2B | 5.2B |
| Total assets | 109.7B | 111.0B | 116.9B | 118.7B | 122.9B | 127.5B | 134.9B | 139.3B | 145.2B | 155.7B |
| Accounts payable | 2.2B | 2.5B | 2.6B | 2.1B | 2.3B | 2.2B | 3.5B | 2.9B | 3.7B | 3.7B |
| Current liabilities | 12.9B | 13.6B | 14.3B | 12.5B | 12.1B | 10.9B | 15.7B | 13.5B | 16.0B | 16.9B |
| Total debt | 47.5B | 50.8B | 46.8B | 46.8B | 49.2B | 53.7B | 57.5B | 62.0B | 64.8B | 72.6B |
| Total liabilities | 82.8B | 85.2B | 87.6B | 86.7B | 90.4B | 95.0B | 100.4B | 104.1B | 108.5B | 116.9B |
| Shareholders' equity | 24.8B | 24.2B | 24.7B | 27.5B | 28.0B | 27.9B | 30.4B | 31.4B | 33.2B | 36.0B |
| Retained earnings | 10.4B | 8.9B | 8.7B | 10.9B | 11.3B | 10.9B | 11.5B | 12.5B | 13.8B | 14.9B |
Cash flow
From EDGAR| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 4.9B | 6.4B | 6.9B | 5.8B | 6.7B | 6.2B | 6.3B | 7.6B | 9.8B | 9.8B |
| Capital spending | 7.3B | 7.4B | 8.0B | 7.6B | 7.5B | 7.6B | 7.9B | 9.1B | 9.0B | 12.7B |
| Free cash flow | -2.4B | -1.0B | -1.1B | -1.8B | -826.0M | -1.4B | -1.6B | -1.5B | 833.0M | -2.9B |
| Stock-based pay (added back) | 3.0M | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dividends paid | 2.1B | 2.3B | 2.4B | 2.6B | 2.7B | 2.8B | 2.9B | 3.0B | 3.0B | 3.0B |
| Buybacks | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Acquisitions | 10.7B | 1.1B | 65.0M | 50.0M | 81.0M | 345.0M | - | 0 | 0 | 635.0M |
| Investing cash flow | -20.0B | -7.2B | -5.8B | -3.4B | -7.0B | -7.4B | -8.4B | -9.7B | -9.4B | -14.0B |
| Financing cash flow | 15.7B | 951.0M | -1.8B | -1.9B | -576.0M | 1.9B | 2.3B | 999.0M | -208.0M | 4.7B |
| Dividend per share | 2.22 | 2.30 | 2.38 | 2.46 | 2.54 | 2.62 | 2.70 | 2.78 | 2.86 | 2.94 |
Stock-based pay and leases
From EDGAR| FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock-based pay (expense) | 3.0M | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stock-based pay / revenue | 0.0% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Operating lease cost | - | - | - | 310.0M | 309.0M | 313.0M | 297.0M | 252.0M | 248.0M | 271.0M |
| Operating lease cash paid | - | - | - | 323.0M | 310.0M | 308.0M | 303.0M | 253.0M | 243.0M | 270.0M |
| Finance lease principal paid | - | - | - | 32.0M | 22.0M | 17.0M | 16.0M | 18.0M | 11.0M | 21.0M |
| Right-of-use assets | - | - | - | 1.8B | 1.8B | 1.7B | 1.5B | 1.4B | 1.4B | 1.4B |
| Operating lease liabilities | - | - | - | 1.8B | 1.9B | 1.8B | 1.6B | 1.5B | 1.5B | 1.5B |
| Finance lease liabilities | - | - | - | 226.0M | 231.0M | 215.0M | 314.0M | 298.0M | 287.0M | 768.0M |
From SEC's XBRL company facts (data.sec.gov). EBITDA = operating income + depreciation and amortization; free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital spending; total debt = long-term debt (with its current part) + short-term borrowings. Stock-based pay and leases are shown as the company reports them; Tickdelta does not take them out of earnings or add leases to debt. Click a number to open the filing in SEC's Inline XBRL viewer, where you can click the same number to see how it is tagged. Values a company later revised show as revised; the Revised numbers tab lists the changes.