CEG vs SO vs VST Stock Comparison

Constellation Energy, Southern and Vistra Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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SO Southern Co
$92.89 +11.3% 1M -3.4% 1Y
Market cap
$105.25B
P/E
22.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$30.18B
Div. yield
0.03%
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
6 wins
VST Vistra Corp.
$140.15 +1.6% 1M -26.8% 1Y
Market cap
$47.77B
P/E
23.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$19.21B
Div. yield
0.01%
Independent Power Producers Utilities
4 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Southern leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Southern 6, Vistra 4, Constellation Energy 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCEGSOVSTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $90.91B $105.25B $47.77B SO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.2x 22.6x 23.6x SO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 20.6x 19.2x 15.9x VST
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +26.0% +6.4% +3.8% CEG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 11.1% 15.4% 10.6% SO
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 5.5% 5.1% 11.3% VST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.9x 5.3x 2.8x VST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.03% 0.01% SO
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -30.7% -3.4% -26.8% SO
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years — +8.1%/yr +49.0%/yr VST
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 49.0% 17.9% 51.0% SO
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 70/100 43/100 68/100 CEG

Percentile Scorecard

CEGSOVST

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCEGSOVST
Valuation 61 #10 of 24 33 #45 of 67 74 #7 of 24
Growth 96 #2 of 23 55 #30 of 65 55 #11 of 23
Profitability 86 #4 of 23 75 #17 of 65 100 #1 of 23
Financial Health 48 #13 of 24 37 #42 of 66 39 #15 of 24
Shareholder Returns 58 #9 of 20 15 #57 of 67 74 #6 of 20
Overall 70 43 68
  • CEG ranked among 24 companies in Power Generation
  • SO ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities
  • VST ranked among 24 companies in Power Generation

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCEGSOVSTSPY
1 month -4.0%+11.3%+1.6% -1.0%
3 months -7.6%-4.5%-14.2% +2.9%
6 months -19.2%-0.6%-14.7% +6.4%
Year to date -28.3%+6.5%-13.1% +11.4%
1 year -30.7%-3.4%-26.8% +13.1%
3 years +121.8%+39.8%+328.6% +79.4%
3 years, per year +30.4%+11.8%+62.5% +21.5%
5 years —+47.6%+633.4% +67.7%
5 years, per year —+8.1%+49.0% +10.9%
10 years —+83.8%+792.7% +255.2%
10 years, per year —+6.3%+24.5% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureCEGSOVSTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 49.0%17.9%51.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 50.3%17.5%55.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.46-0.231.59 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.63-0.19-0.52 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -50.8%-23.3%-48.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -36.9%-6.3%-30.4% -2.5%
52-week high $401.43$99.11$201.47 $779.14
52-week low $236.50$82.35$134.71 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCEGSOVST
P/E now vs peer median 26.3xmedian 24.1x 22.7xmedian 20.8x 23.3xmedian 24.1x
P/S now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 2.6x 3.5xmedian 2.8x 2.5xmedian 2.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 13.8xmedian 11.3x 13.1xmedian 13.1x 10.2xmedian 11.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 291.2xmedian 12.9x -32.7xmedian 36.7x 20.9xmedian 12.9x
P/B now vs peer median 2.8xmedian 2.1x 2.5xmedian 1.7x 8.6xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median 0.44median 0.59 0.71median 2.27 1.47median 0.59

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCEGSOVST
Revenue $31.27B $30.18B $19.21B
Gross profit – $25.14B –
Operating income $4.60B $7.31B $3.56B
Net income $3.48B $4.66B $2.22B
Free cash flow $309.00M -$3.27B $2.26B
EPS (diluted) $9.63 $4.08 $5.98
Cash & equivalents $697.00M $2.98B $435.00M
Total debt $24.70B $295.00B $19.60B
Shares (diluted) 360.00M 1.14B 339.23M
Enterprise value $81.82B $96.30B $40.96B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCEGSOVST
P/E 26.3x 22.7x 23.3x
P/FCF 291.2x -32.7x 20.9x
P/Operating cash flow 21.4x 10.0x 9.2x
P/S 2.9x 3.5x 2.5x
P/B 2.8x 2.5x 8.6x
P/Tangible book 2.8x 2.5x 14.7x
EV/EBITDA 13.8x 13.1x 10.2x
EV/EBIT 24.8x 24.6x 18.2x
EV/Revenue 3.6x 5.9x 3.4x
EV/FCF 368.9x -54.9x 28.7x
EV/Operating cash flow 27.1x 16.8x 12.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.44 0.71 1.47

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCEGSOVST
Revenue growth (1Y) 26.0% 6.4% 3.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.8% 3.0% 4.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 5.3% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 1.6% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 19.7% 1.5% -0.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 111.3% 14.7% 12.3%
Net income growth (1Y) 15.2% 8.7% -8.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 66.0% 16.2% 11.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 0.4% 5.6% -6.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 59.2% 31.9% 15.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 822.4% 15.5% 21.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 42.4% 23.7% 6.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 112.9% -152.2% 36.4%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 26.9% -3.1% -4.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCEGSOVST
Gross margin – 83.3% –
EBITDA margin 26.4% 45.2% 33.0%
Operating margin 14.7% 24.2% 18.5%
Pretax margin 16.3% 17.4% 14.6%
Net margin 11.1% 15.4% 10.6%
FCF margin 1.0% -10.8% 11.7%
Operating cash flow margin 13.5% 35.3% 26.7%
Return on equity 10.6% 9.2% 40.0%
Return on assets 3.6% 2.9% 5.3%
Return on invested capital 5.5% 5.1% 11.3%
Return on capital employed 5.4% 5.1% 11.3%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.2x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 2.3x 2.3x
Stock comp / revenue – – 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCEGSOVST
Debt / assets 25.1% 46.6% 46.0%
Debt / equity 0.8x 1.8x 3.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.9x 5.3x 2.8x
Debt / FCF 79.9x -23.1x 8.7x
Liabilities / assets 67.5% 73.9% 87.1%
Equity / assets 32.5% 26.1% 12.9%
Interest coverage 5.9x 2.3x 3.1x
Current ratio 1.5x 0.8x 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.4x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 1.47 – 1.52

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCEGSOVST
Dividend yield 0.7% 3.2% 0.7%
Net buyback yield – – 2.4%
Shareholder yield 0.7% 3.2% 3.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 66.6% 13.9%
Payout ratio (FCF) – -94.8% 13.7%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 4.7% 0.3%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 1.2% 0.5%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCEGSOVST
Forward P/E 20.6xFY2026 19.2xFY2026 15.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $12.32FY2026 $4.84FY2026 $8.84FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +31.2%FY2026 +12.6%FY2026 +305.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +12.6% -2.9% +21.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $31.63BFY2026 $31.53BFY2026 $21.35BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +23.9%FY2026 +6.7%FY2026 +20.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +7.1% +8.8% +21.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCEGSOVST
Held by institutions 79.8% 72.5% 84.4%
Institutions holding 1,843 2,363 1,403
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.9% +5.7% +2.7%
Institutions buying 1,002 1,248 852
Institutions selling 579 724 415
Buyers to sellers 1.73 1.72 2.05

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CEGSOVST
CEG 1.00 0.09 0.81
SO 0.09 1.00 0.05
VST 0.81 0.05 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CEG, SO and VST?

Southern (SO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Constellation Energy (CEG) $90.91B, Southern (SO) $105.25B, Vistra (VST) $47.77B.

Which stock is cheaper, CEG, SO and VST?

Southern (SO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Constellation Energy (CEG) 26.2x, Southern (SO) 22.6x, Vistra (VST) 23.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, Vistra (VST) is cheapest (Constellation Energy (CEG) 20.6x, Southern (SO) 19.2x, Vistra (VST) 15.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Constellation Energy (CEG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Constellation Energy (CEG) +26.0%, Southern (SO) +6.4%, Vistra (VST) +3.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Southern (SO) has the highest net margin (Constellation Energy (CEG) 11.1%, Southern (SO) 15.4%, Vistra (VST) 10.6%). On return on invested capital, Vistra (VST) leads (Constellation Energy (CEG) 5.5%, Southern (SO) 5.1%, Vistra (VST) 11.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Southern (SO) returned the most: Constellation Energy (CEG) -30.7%, Southern (SO) -3.4%, Vistra (VST) -26.8%. Over five years, Vistra (VST) compounded fastest (Southern (SO) +8.1%/yr, Vistra (VST) +49.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Southern (SO) has the highest dividend yield: Constellation Energy (CEG) 0.00%, Southern (SO) 0.03%, Vistra (VST) 0.01%. Constellation Energy (CEG) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Southern (SO) has been the steadiest (Constellation Energy (CEG) 49.0%, Southern (SO) 17.9%, Vistra (VST) 51.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CEG, SO and VST?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Southern (SO) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.