Is SO a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores The Southern Company on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how SO compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is The Southern Company's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to SO based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes SO a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

SO - The Southern Company

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Hold DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $99.77 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

C- 45.0 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for stable earnings power businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 20%

C 56.3

5yr Avg ROIC 5.5% 38/100
Operating Margin Trend +2.53 pp/yr 100/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

C 55.4

5yr Avg ROE 10.4% 62/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 1.1% 44/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

B+ 76.6

5yr Revenue CAGR 6.3% 67/100
5yr EPS CAGR 14.8% 88/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 4/5 80/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

F 0.0

5yr FCF Margin -5.1% 0/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion -0.39x 0/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

F 25.2

Net Debt / EBITDA 4.48x 23/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 2.51x 37/100
Altman Z-Score 1.01 15/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

C+ 59.0

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.35 50/100
Piotroski F-Score 5 56/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 1/5 80/100

4 of 4 gurus held; 1 added; 3 trimmed.

Holders: 4
Avg Δ position: +100.0%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Cooperman increased +490%
Dalio decreased -66%
Wood decreased -22%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (20%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (15%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (20%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (15%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.