SO vs DUK Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Southern Company and Duke Energy by nuclear energy investment, clean energy transition pace, regulatory relationships, earnings per share growth guidance, and which integrated utility offers better income and stability.
Use this Southern Company vs Duke Energy comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
DUK holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DUK leads on both 1-year return (+8.99%) and forward P/E quality (17.44x vs 19.39x for SO), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, DUK is growing revenue faster (11.30%), while SO maintains the higher operating margin (25.82%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for DUK (+10.88%) than for SO (+6.45%).
| Metric | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 41.3 | 41.5 |
| AI rank | #1024 | #1006 |
| Latest close | $97.25 | $130.52 |
| 1M return | +1.53% | +3.15% |
| 6M return | +11.09% | +11.15% |
| 1Y return | +2.37% | +8.99% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $10.2K (+2.0%) started 2025-07-25 | $10.88K (+8.8%) started 2025-07-25 |
| 5Y ago | $20.92K (+109.2%) started 2021-07-26 | $17.35K (+73.5%) started 2021-07-26 |
| 10Y ago | $41.39K (+313.9%) started 2016-07-25 | $34.22K (+242.2%) started 2016-07-25 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $107.43B | $97.46B |
| Trailing P/E | 24.37 | 19.23 |
| Forward P/E | 19.39 | 17.44 |
| Price/Sales | 3.49 | N/A |
| EV/Revenue | 6.14 | 5.79 |
| Analyst target | $101.45 | $138.61 |
| Target upside | +6.45% | +10.88% |
| Metric | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 8.00% | 11.30% |
| Earnings growth | -0.80% | 12.00% |
| EPS growth | -0.80% | +12.00% |
| FCF margin | -13.09% | -6.87% |
| Operating margin | 25.82% | 25.51% |
| Profit margin | 14.46% | 15.71% |
| ROIC proxy | 10.99% | 9.66% |
| Return on equity | 10.99% | 9.66% |
| Dividend yield | 3.19% | 3.47% |
| Beta | 0.33 | 0.37 |
| Debt/equity | 190.43 | 161.50 |
| Current ratio | 0.65 | 0.66 |
| Quick ratio | 0.32 | 0.30 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | +1.99% | +8.83% |
| CAGR | +2.00% | +8.86% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.06 | 0.33 | |
| Max drawdown | 15.68% | 11.65% | |
| Max daily drop | 3.28% | 2.80% | |
| Max wkly drop | 5.84% | 5.99% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +77.73% | +46.28% |
| CAGR | +12.20% | +7.91% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.47 | 0.27 | |
| Max drawdown | 23.28% | 24.16% | |
| Max daily drop | 4.70% | 4.70% | |
| Max wkly drop | 11.77% | 10.31% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +161.11% | +118.61% |
| CAGR | +10.08% | +8.14% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.34 | 0.27 | |
| Max drawdown | 38.43% | 37.37% | |
| Max daily drop | 11.77% | 11.50% | |
| Max wkly drop | 23.39% | 20.25% |
| Category | SO | DUK |
|---|---|---|
| Company | SO | DUK |
| Sector | Utilities | Utilities |
| Industry | Utilities - Regulated Electric | N/A |
| Core business | N/A | N/A |
| Investor focus | N/A | N/A |
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