American Electric Power vs Southern
AEP and SO side by side, both in electric services. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How AEP and SO compare
Southern is the larger company, worth 1.5 times as much as American Electric Power ($108B against $70.4B).
On earnings, American Electric Power is cheaper: it trades at 21.0× trailing earnings, against 22.7× for Southern.
American Electric Power grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (11.1% versus 6.4% for Southern).
Both pay dividends: American Electric Power yields 3.0% and Southern 3.2%.
American Electric Power scores higher on the StockData Score (7 against 6 for Southern), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | AEP | SO |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $70.4B | $108B |
| Share price | $129.21 | $93.84 |
| Change, 1 year | 5.4% | 3.4% |
| Change, 5 years | 55.0% | 49.7% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.25 | 0.24 |
| Employees | 18K | 30K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 7 (better) | 6 |
| Valuation score | 1 | 2 (better) |
| Growth score | 3 (better) | 0 |
| Performance score | 0 | 1 (better) |
| Health score | 0 | 0 |
| Dividend score | 3 | 3 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 21.0× (better) | 22.7× |
| P/S | 3.0× (better) | 3.6× |
| P/B | 2.1× | – |
| EV/EBITDA | 22.7× | 13.2× (better) |
| P/FCF | 20.8× | – |
| PEG | 1.50 (better) | 3.58 |
| FCF yield | 4.8% (better) | −3.0% |
| Fair value | $109.53 | $82.30 |
| Margin of safety | −18.0% | −14.0% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 11.1% (better) | 6.4% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 8.0% (better) | 7.7% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | – | 8.7% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −10.2% | 7.0% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 8.5% (better) | 6.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 68.4% | – |
| Operating margin | 23.4% | 24.2% (better) |
| Net margin | – | 15.4% |
| FCF margin | 14.4% (better) | −10.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 6.2% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 1.66 | – |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 9.71 | 5.32 (better) |
| Interest coverage | 2.4× | – |
| Current ratio | 0.51 | 0.79 (better) |
| Altman Z-score | 0.91 (better) | 0.85 |
| Piotroski F-score | – | 4 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 3.0% | 3.2% (better) |
| Payout ratio | – | 66.6% |
| Years of dividend growth | 16 | 16 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 5.7% (better) | 3.0% |
| Buyback yield | −1.4% (better) | −3.9% |
| Shareholder yield | 1.5% (better) | −0.65% |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 92.1% | 72.6% |
| Held by insiders | 0.11% | 0.12% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$1.7M (better) | −$5.9M |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | – |
| Short interest, % of float | 5.0% | – |
Go deeper
- AEP stock overview
- AEP income statement
- AEP valuation and score
- SO stock overview
- SO income statement
- SO valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.