Southern Company (SO) Offering Possible 24.38% Return Over the Next 20 Calendar Days

Southern Company's most recent trend suggests a bullish bias. One trading opportunity on Southern Company is a Bull Put Spread using a strike $54.50 short put and a strike $49.50 long put offers a potential 24.38% return on risk over the next 20 calendar days. Maximum profit would be generated if the Bull Put Spread were to expire worthless, which would occur if the stock were above $54.50 by expiration. The full premium credit of $0.98 would be kept by the premium seller. The risk of $4.02 would be incurred if the stock dropped below the $49.50 long put strike price.

The 5-day moving average is moving down which suggests that the short-term momentum for Southern Company is bearish and the probability of a decline in share price is higher if the stock starts trending.

The 20-day moving average is moving up which suggests that the medium-term momentum for Southern Company is bullish.

The RSI indicator is at 63.56 level which suggests that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold at this time.

To learn how to execute such a strategy while accounting for risk and reward in the context of smart portfolio management, and see how to trade live with a successful professional trader, view more here

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LATEST NEWS for Southern Company

Southern Company (SO) Q2 2020 Earnings Call Transcript
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 06:31:27 +0000
SO earnings call for the period ending June 30, 2020.

Hackers Are Targeting the Remote Workers Who Keep Your Lights On
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 17:09:51 +0000
(Bloomberg) — In July alone, hackers took over the twitter accounts of U.S. politicians, stole terrabytes of coronavirus research and even infiltrated the U.K.’s Premier League soccer clubs. Can they cut off your electricity, too?They’re trying. With millions of Americans now working from home –- including the people who help keep the grid running — cyberattacks targeting the power sector have surged. In many cases, hackers use phishing emails to gain access to the computers of remote workers, looking to disable company systems for a ransom. But security experts warn that about dozen state-sponsored actors are also trying to infiltrate these networks.The pandemic has created “a once in a lifetime opportunity to get access during a time of heightened remote access usage,” said Rob Lee, chief executive officer at industrial security firm Dragos Inc. “The bulk electric system is absolutely too important to allow adversaries access. It’s a matter of public safety as well as national security.”Cyberattacks of all kinds have intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic, with hackers targeting public figures, banks, healthcare providers and others as the rise in remote work creates new access points. An assault on the power grid could have wide-ranging implications across sectors. While no outages have so far been attributed to hackers, grid companies are beefing up security amid an unprecedented onslaught that, in a worst case scenario, could trigger blackouts or damage vital equipment.“Every major company in our industry gets attacked millions of times every day,” said Tom Fanning, chief executive officer of utility Southern Co. “But it is very clear there have been no interruptions in service on the electrical side.”Even before the pandemic, hackers succeeded in infiltrating some energy infrastructure. In 2016, an Iran-based hacker gained remote access to an electric dam in New York for weeks. Earlier this year, ransomware shut down a natural gas facility for two days.The largest U.S. grid operator, PJM Interconnection LLC, recently told regulators it’s facing increasing attacks. In May, the U.K.’s grid data system was hacked, although electricity supplies weren’t affected. And in March, an attack against Europe’s association of grid operators, ENTSO-E, affected its internal office systems.“If you notice an attack going on, it’s already too late,” said Andrea Carcano, co-founder of Nozomi Networks, which provides web security services for utilities and other industries.Nozomi estimates that grid attacks have increased 35% since Americans began quarantining. That correlates with more electric-sector employees working from home. As an example, one U.S. utility that previously allowed only 9% of its power plants to operate remotely now allows 80% to do so, Carcano said.“With people working from home, there’s an increased attack surface to go after,” said Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute.Off-site EmployeesIn response to the onslaught, utilities are implementing heightened defense campaigns. That includes Avangrid Inc. and National Grid PLC, which provide power in New York and New England.“We’ve increased our vigilance and focus since the start of the pandemic to ensure our employees working outside the office continue to access our systems in a safe and controlled manner,” said Edward Crowder, an Avangrid spokesman. He declined to share specific actions the company is taking, citing security.Before National Grid moved thousands of employees off-site, “we ensured that our systems could accommodate this change, and that there would be no impact to our security controls,” said spokeswoman Molly Gilson, without elaborating on particular measures the company took.PJM declined to comment on how it’s making its systems safer, but its Senior Vice President of Operations Mike Bryson told regulators in June that “PJM’s remote access infrastructure was already prepared both for the capacity needed for remote operations and for the security configuration needed to protect PJM while in remote operation.Still, intrusions can happen, and even the most tightly guarded systems can be taken down.“Yes, it could happen,” said EEI’s Aaronson. “You could get in and move laterally but it would be very, very difficult to do so without people noticing anomalies.” He said he’s been on regular calls with utilities, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House since February to share information on potential threats.U.S. HackingThe recent attacks have focused on corporate computer systems rather than the ones that run the physical operations of power plants and grids. The latter are overseen by engineers, many of whom were, until recently, isolated in strictly protected control centers for weeks at a time due to the pandemic.But it’s happened elsewhere. Hackers believed to be linked to Russia hit Ukraine’s grid in 2015, cutting power to 230,000 people. Last September, malware affected an Indian nuclear power plant. And since at least 2012, the U.S. government has worked to penetrate Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir Putin.“Although North America has not experienced similar attacks,” Dragos said in a January report, bad actors “exhibit the interest and ability to target such networks.” Dragos highlighted a group of state-sponsored hackers linked to Iran that have carried out so-called “password spraying campaigns” on U.S. oil, gas and electric infrastructure.“Electric sector community members should be more proactive than ever before,” Lee said. “But that doesn’t mean the public should be freaking out.”(Updates with Southern CEO comments in fifth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Southern records coronavirus charge at Georgia Vogtle nuclear plant
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 14:25:03 +0000
Southern Co said on Thursday it recorded a $149 million pretax charge to income in the second quarter due to possible coronavirus-related increases in the cost of building two long-delayed reactors at its Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. Despite possible cost increases, Southern said it still plans to complete the reactors by their regulatory-approved November 2021 and November 2022 in-service dates. In April, Southern's Georgia Power unit reduced the workforce at the Vogtle construction site by about 20% as absenteeism from the coronavirus increased.

Southern Company (SO) Q2 Earnings Top, Sticks to Vogtle Dates
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:17:01 +0000
Per Southern Company's (SO) latest earnings presentation, it continues to progress toward completing the Units 3 and 4 of the Vogtle nuclear project by the November 2021 and November 2022.

Southern: Q2 Earnings Insights
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 12:03:07 +0000
Shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) were flat in pre-market trading after the company reported Q2 results.Quarterly Results Earnings per share fell 2.50% year over year to $0.78, which beat the estimate of $0.67.Revenue of $4,620,000,000 decreased by 9.38% year over year, which missed the estimate of $4,910,000,000.Outlook Southern hasn't issued any earnings guidance for the time being.Revenue guidance hasn't been issued by the company for now.Conference Call Details Date: Jul 30, 2020View more earnings on SOTime: 01:00 PMET Webcast URL: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Finvestor.southerncompany.com%2Finformation-for-investors%2Finvestor-information%2Fwebcasts-and-presentations%2Fdefault.aspx&eventid=2374594&sessionid=1&key=CCD6DB4CB60C0B7B79900DFD530812A5&regTag=&sourcepage=registerTechnicals 52-week high: $71.10Company's 52-week low was at $41.96Price action over last quarter: Up 1.80%Company Profile Southern Co. is one of the largest utilities in the U.S. The company distributes electricity and natural gas to approximately 9 million customers in nine states. It owns 50 gigawatts of generating capacity, primarily for serving regulated customers in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Wholly owned unregulated Southern Power Co. owns over 11 gigawatts of mostly renewable energy capacity and sells the electricity primarily under long-term power sales agreements. The solar and wind farms are located in Southern's regulated jurisdictions but also in Texas, California, and other states.See more from Benzinga * Southern Earnings Preview(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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