Southern Co Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Southern Co (NYSE:SO) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Southern Company, through its operating companies, provides electric service in four Southeastern states.

Southern Co Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 40 cents per share, a rise of 33.3% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It also has not changed during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 1.9% versus last year to $2.62.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company fell short of estimates by one cent, coming in at net income of $1.11 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.14. The company topped expectations in the second quarter.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 23.8% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $4.58 billion.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose 6.4% to $993 million ($1.12 a share) from $933 million ($1.06 a share) the year earlier, but fell short analyst expectations. Revenue fell 7% to $5.05 billion from $5.43 billion.

Here’s how Southern Co traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week: