Southern Company key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Southern Company had return on equity of 12.5%, an operating margin of 24.7%, debt equal to 201.6% of equity and a current ratio of 0.65. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Southern Company: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Operating margin	20.8%	21.8%	24.0%	27.0%	19.0%	19.7%	24.5%	22.5%	10.1%	17.8%	36.1%	24.0%	16.0%	18.3%	23.1%	26.4%	24.7%	24.2%
Net margin	10.4%	11.3%	12.5%	14.2%	9.6%	10.6%	13.5%	12.3%	3.7%	9.5%	22.1%	15.3%	10.4%	12.0%	15.7%	16.5%	14.7%	15.4%
Free-cash-flow margin	−8.9%	−0.5%	7.8%	0.5%	4.5%	3.1%	3.4%	−12.1%	−4.5%	−4.5%	−8.3%	−4.1%	−6.1%	−5.5%	−6.1%	3.1%	−9.9%	−10.8%
Return on equity	10.5%	12.2%	12.5%	12.8%	8.8%	10.1%	11.7%	10.8%	3.4%	9.1%	18.1%	11.2%	8.6%	12.1%	12.9%	13.6%	12.5%	11.9%
Return on assets	3.2%	3.7%	3.9%	3.8%	2.6%	2.9%	3.2%	2.6%	0.8%	2.0%	4.0%	2.6%	1.9%	2.7%	2.9%	3.1%	2.9%	2.9%
Asset turnover	0.30	0.33	0.31	0.27	0.27	0.27	0.24	0.21	0.21	0.21	0.18	0.17	0.18	0.22	0.18	0.19	0.20	0.19
Current ratio	1.05	0.91	0.95	0.88	1.02	0.65	0.71	0.75	0.74	0.67	0.78	0.71	0.82	0.66	0.77	0.67	0.65	0.79
Debt to equity	127.6%	122.7%	116.1%	122.6%	122.6%	124.2%	139.6%	191.7%	210.2%	189.5%	170.3%	175.9%	192.7%	189.3%	197.2%	195.2%	201.6%	178.5%
Effective tax rate	—	33.5%	35.0%	35.6%	33.2%	32.5%	32.9%	27.3%	13.3%	16.3%	27.5%	11.2%	10.4%	18.8%	11.4%	18.5%	16.6%	12.8%
Capital spending as % of revenue	29.7%	23.4%	25.6%	29.1%	31.2%	28.4%	32.4%	36.7%	32.2%	34.1%	35.3%	36.9%	32.8%	27.1%	36.0%	33.5%	43.1%	46.1%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	−85.6%	−4.8%	62.6%	3.8%	46.6%	29.0%	25.3%	−98.7%	−122.2%	−47.4%	−37.4%	−26.5%	−59.2%	−46.0%	−38.8%	18.9%	−67.6%	−70.2%
Dividends ÷ net income	83.3%	75.7%	72.7%	72.0%	107.2%	95.1%	82.8%	85.9%	273.2%	108.9%	54.2%	86.1%	116.0%	82.5%	76.3%	67.1%	69.5%	66.6%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	—	116.2%	>999%	232.6%	328.8%	345.7%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	354.6%	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Southern Company: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Operating margin	32.6%	16.7%	25.9%	25.3%	33.2%	13.1%	24.0%	25.5%
Net margin	21.1%	8.4%	17.2%	12.6%	21.9%	6.0%	16.1%	16.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	17.9%	−9.1%	−15.3%	−12.0%	9.9%	−24.2%	−20.5%	−9.2%
Current ratio	0.91	0.67	0.86	0.74	0.75	0.65	0.65	0.79
Debt to equity	167.9%	181.0%	170.5%	171.3%	169.2%	184.3%	172.4%	167.4%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

1 of 6 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $162.0bn

Short-term assets $12.4bnLonger-term assets $149.6bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $162.0bn

Short-term liabilities $15.7bnLonger-term liabilities $104.0bnShareholders' equity $42.3bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $12.4bn of assets due within a year against $15.7bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $12.4bn short-term assets against $104.0bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $3.0bn of cash against $70.9bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 167% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 180% to 167% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $10.7bn of operating cash flow against $70.9bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.

From Southern Company's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

36 /100

Weak moat

How hard Southern's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 1 / 20

Net income has been a median 2.6% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 13 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 23.2%; its worst year was 9.3%.
Cash conversion 0 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 0 of 10 years, at a median -5.1% of revenue.
Discipline 15 / 20

The diluted share count rose 5.4% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.2% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

Head to head: CEG vs SO DUK vs SO EXC vs SO

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Figures from Southern Company's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Southern Company.