Sifting through countless of stocks in the Electric Utilities industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the sale of electricity. The company offers electric service to retail customers and wholesale customers; and energy-related products and services to natural gas choice markets. It also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, operates, and manages power generation assets, as well as battery energy storage projects; sells electricity at market-based rates in the wholesale market; and deploys microgrids for commercial, industrial, governmental, and utility customers. In addition, the company is involved in the distribution of natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee; distributes energy and resilience solutions; and invests in telecommunications. The Southern Company was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Duke Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. The company operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I); and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity to customers in the Southeast and Midwest regions. It generates electricity through coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewables, and nuclear fuel. This segment also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and other load-serving entities. The GU&I segment distributes natural gas to customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas sectors; and invests in pipeline transmission projects, renewable natural gas projects, and natural gas storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2006. Duke Energy Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Latest Electric Utilities and The Southern Company, Duke Energy Corporation Stock News

As of June 12, 2026, The Southern Company had a $106.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Electric Utilities median of $16.0 million. The Southern Company’s stock is up 7.8% in 2026, up 1.5% in the previous five trading days and up 4.97% in the past year.

Currently, The Southern Company’s price-earnings ratio is 24.0. The Southern Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $30.2 billion with a 14.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.566 per share for the current fiscal year. The Southern Company currently has a 3.2% dividend yield.

As of June 12, 2026, Duke Energy Corporation had a $97.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 97th percentile of all stocks. Duke Energy Corporation’s stock is up 6.6% in 2026, up 0.6% in the previous five trading days and up 7.41% in the past year.

Currently, Duke Energy Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 19.2. Duke Energy Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $32.7 billion with a 15.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 11.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.704 per share for the current fiscal year. Duke Energy Corporation currently has a 3.4% dividend yield.

How We Compare The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
The Southern Company	SO	D
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

The Southern Company has a Value Score of 37, which is Expensive. Duke Energy Corporation has a Value Score of 55, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
The Southern Company	SO	D
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

The Southern Company has a Quality Score of 34, which is Weak. Duke Energy Corporation has a Quality Score of 48, which is Average.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
The Southern Company	SO	D
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	D

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

The Southern Company has a Momentum Score of 39, which is Weak. Duke Energy Corporation has a Momentum Score of 40, which is Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation Grades

In addition to Value, Quality and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Estimate Revisions.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, The Southern Company or Duke Energy Corporation Stock?

Overall, The Southern Company stock has a Value Score of 37, Momentum Score of 39 and Quality Score of 34.

Duke Energy Corporation stock has a Value Score of 55, Momentum Score of 40 and Quality Score of 48.

Comparing The Southern Company and Duke Energy Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.