Spark Infrastructure Group (OTCMKTS:SFDPF) versus Southern (NYSE:SO) Financial Review

Spark Infrastructure Group (OTCMKTS:SFDPF) and Southern (NYSE:SO) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.1% of Southern shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Spark Infrastructure Group and Southern, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spark Infrastructure Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Southern	2	11	7	0	2.25

Southern has a consensus target price of $100.26, indicating a potential upside of 9.16%. Given Southern’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than Spark Infrastructure Group.

Profitability

This table compares Spark Infrastructure Group and Southern’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spark Infrastructure Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern	15.43%	12.93%	3.28%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Spark Infrastructure Group and Southern”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spark Infrastructure Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Southern	$29.55 billion	3.58	$4.34 billion	$4.17	22.03

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than Spark Infrastructure Group.

Summary

Southern beats Spark Infrastructure Group on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spark Infrastructure Group

Spark Infrastructure Group engages in investment in regulated utility infrastructure. It operates through the following segments: Victoria Power Networks, SA Power Networks, Transgrid, and Bomen Group. The Victoria Power Networks segment holds interests in CitiPower and Powercor. The SA Power Networks segment covers interests in electricity distribution in South Australia. The TransGrid segment includes interests in electricity transmission businesses in New South Wales. The Bomen Solar Farm segment owns Bomen Solar Farm HoldCo Pty Ltd. and Bomen Solar Farm Hold Trust. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

About Southern

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations. In addition, it owns and operates nuclear, coal, hydro, cogeneration, solar, wind, battery storage, and fuel cell facilities. Further, the constructs, operates, and maintains approximately 77,900 miles of natural gas pipelines and 14 storage facilities with total capacity of 157 Bcf to provide natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company serves approximately 8.9 million electric and gas utility customers. Further, it develops distributed energy and resilience solutions; deploys microgrids for commercial, industrial, governmental, and utility customers; and offers digital wireless communications and fiber optics services. The Southern Company was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.