Established in 1946 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, The Southern Company operates as a diversified energy utility. Its primary activities involve the ...
The Southern Company, established in the mid-1940s and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a diversified energy utility and one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States. The company's primary business involves the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity, serving about 9 million customers across the Southeast and ...The Southern Company, established in the mid-1940s and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a diversified energy utility and one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States. The company's primary business involves the production, transmission, and distribution of electricity, serving about 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond. Its operations span regulated electric utilities, natural gas distribution in states like Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, and wholesale power sales. The company manages approximately 78,500 miles of natural gas pipelines and 14 storage facilities, and also offers gas marketing services. Beyond traditional utilities, Southern Company is a leader in renewable energy, developing, constructing, and managing solar, wind, and other clean energy projects. It also provides distributed energy and resilience solutions, digital wireless communications, fiber optics services, and microgrid deployment for commercial, industrial, and governmental clients. With over 28,000 employees, the company generated a market cap of around $107.9 billion as of the latest data. Financially, it demonstrates strong operational metrics with a revenue per share of $26.54, a return on equity of 12.6%, and a net profit margin of 15.4%. The company maintains a solid balance sheet with a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.948 and an interest coverage ratio of 2.218. Southern Company is committed to innovation and sustainability, investing heavily in grid modernization, renewable energy, and advanced technologies. Led by Chairman, President, and CEO Chris Womack since 2021, the company focuses on delivering value to shareholders, customers, and communities while transitioning to a cleaner energy future. It emphasizes reliability, affordability, and environmental stewardship, aligning its corporate strategy with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$29.6B
+10.6%
-16.9%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$4.3B
-1.4%
-13.4%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+29.8%
-40.3%
+10.3%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+24.6%
-7.0%
+5.9%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+14.7%
-10.8%
+4.2%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$-2.9B
-452.3%
+425.7%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
-9.9%
-418.6%
+492.0%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
205.7%
+3.1%
-4.9%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
0.65x
-3.3%
+21.0%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Good afternoon. My name is Christine, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to The Southern Company's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Gregg MacLeod, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Gregg MacLeod: Thank you, Christine. Good afternoon, and welcome to Southern Company's second quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me today are Christopher C. Womack, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company and David P. Poroch, chief financial officer. Let me remind you that we will make forward-looking statements today in addition to providing historical information. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Including those discussed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and subsequent securities filings. In addition, we will present non-GAAP financial information on this call. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measure are included in the financial information we released this morning as well as the slides for this conference call. Which are both available on our Investor Relations website at investor.southerncompany.com. At this time, I will turn the call over to Christopher C. Womack.
Christopher C. Womack: Thank you, Greg. Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for joining us for today's update. As you can see from the materials that were released this morning, Southern Company continues to perform exceptionally well which supports a very bright future. We reported strong adjusted earnings results for the second quarter with each of our businesses contributing to performance meaningfully above the estimate we provided last quarter. The extraordinary economic development momentum and demand for power across our Southeast region we have seen for the past several years continues particularly from data centers and other large load customers and our utilities are capturing this growth in a way that meaningfully benefits the customers and communities we are privileged to serve and support our long-term outlook. In just the last quarter, there were three projects across the state of Alabama, Alabama Power added approximately 3 GW, while Georgia Power signed a 3.2 GW 25-year contract for electric service with OpenAI at its recently announced site near Savannah, Georgia. This site, which is expected to take electric service in phases beginning in 2028 features 1 GW of flexible demand response helping to support reliable energy for all customers when demand is highest. Combined, these four projects representing 6 GW of newly contracted customer load along with agreements previously signed brings our total contract to large load agreements …
![FDA Clears ProSomnus EVO [PH]](https://sleepreviewmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ProSomnus-EVO-PH-Sleep-and-Snore-Device-1280x640.png)
![ProSomnus Sleep Technologies ProSomnus [CA] Continuous Advancement Sleep Apnea Device](https://sleepreviewmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/ProSomnus-CA_2018.png)