XEL vs IX vs SO Stock Comparison

Xcel Energy, Orix and Southern Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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XEL Xcel Energy Inc
$79.04 +11.8% 1M -0.8% 1Y
Market cap
$50.23B
P/E
18.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.87B
Div. yield
–
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
1 win
IX Orix Corp
$37.35 -2.3% 1M +53.6% 1Y
Market cap
$41.12B
P/E
10.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$55.33B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Finance Financial Services
5 wins
SO Southern Co
$93.00 +11.4% 1M -0.5% 1Y
Market cap
$106.62B
P/E
22.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$30.18B
Div. yield
0.03%
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Southern leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Southern 5, Orix 5, Xcel Energy 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionXELIXSOLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $50.23B $41.12B $106.62B SO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 18.8x 10.3x 22.9x IX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 18.4x 8.1x 19.2x IX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.5% +2.8% +6.4% SO
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.9% 7.3% 15.4% XEL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 5.0% 3.0% 5.1% SO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 6.0x — 5.3x SO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.03% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -0.8% +53.6% -0.5% IX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +4.1%/yr +13.5%/yr +8.3%/yr IX
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 19.3% 28.6% 17.9% SO
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 30/100 51/100 41/100 IX

Percentile Scorecard

XELIXSO

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

AxisXELIXSO
Valuation 18 #55 of 67 57 #73 of 169 33 #45 of 67
Growth 50 #33 of 65 79 #35 of 159 53 #31 of 65
Profitability 48 #33 of 63 58 #62 of 146 76 #16 of 63
Financial Health 31 #43 of 62 50 #77 of 153 33 #42 of 62
Shareholder Returns 0 #67 of 67 9 #123 of 135 11 #60 of 67
Overall 30 51 41
  • XEL ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities
  • IX ranked among 174 companies in Lending and Credit
  • SO ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodXELIXSOSPY
1 month +11.8%-2.3%+11.4% +0.7%
3 months +1.0%-7.6%-1.4% +3.7%
6 months -4.7%+11.1%-3.8% +7.1%
Year to date +7.0%+27.8%+6.7% +12.8%
1 year -0.8%+53.6%-0.5% +11.9%
3 years +34.6%+106.9%+39.2% +85.2%
3 years, per year +10.4%+27.5%+11.7% +22.8%
5 years +22.4%+88.6%+49.2% +67.6%
5 years, per year +4.1%+13.5%+8.3% +10.9%
10 years +94.3%+133.6%+83.4% +262.0%
10 years, per year +6.9%+8.9%+6.3% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureXELIXSOSPY
Volatility, 1Y 19.3%28.6%17.9% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 19.5%28.0%17.5% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.031.01-0.23 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.041.88-0.03 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -37.4%-39.0%-23.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.8%-9.6%-6.2% -1.2%
52-week high $83.91$41.31$99.11 $779.14
52-week low $69.39$24.22$82.35 $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.

MultipleXELIXSO
P/E now vs peer median 18.6xmedian 20.5x 10.4xmedian 11.7x 22.7xmedian 20.5x
P/S now vs peer median 3.4xmedian 2.9x 0.8xmedian 2.7x 3.5xmedian 2.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 13.9xmedian 13.1x —median 13.1x 13.2xmedian 13.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median -6.6xmedian 40.5x —median 6.5x -32.7xmedian 40.5x
P/B now vs peer median 2.0xmedian 1.7x 1.4xmedian 0.7x 2.5xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 1.82median 2.14 0.40median 0.33 0.71median 2.14

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 monthsXELIXSO
Revenue $14.87B $55.33B $30.18B
Gross profit – $13.35B $25.14B
Operating income $3.23B $3.05B $7.31B
Net income $2.67B $4.10B $4.66B
Free cash flow -$7.62B – -$3.27B
EPS (diluted) $4.22 $3.58 $4.08
Cash & equivalents $2.48B $5.98B $2.98B
Total debt $40.60B $38.96B $295.00B
Shares (diluted) 632.00M 1.12B 1.14B
Enterprise value $43.70B $9.84B $97.68B

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
MetricXELIXSO
P/E 18.6x 10.4x 22.7x
P/FCF -6.6x – -32.7x
P/Operating cash flow 9.9x – 10.0x
P/S 3.4x 0.8x 3.5x
P/B 2.0x 1.4x 2.5x
P/Tangible book 2.0x 1.4x 2.5x
EV/EBITDA 13.9x – 13.2x
EV/EBIT 27.3x 24.6x 24.6x
EV/Revenue 5.9x 1.4x 6.0x
EV/FCF -11.6x – -54.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 17.4x – 16.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.82 0.40 0.71

Growth

14 metrics
MetricXELIXSO
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.5% 2.8% 6.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.1% 7.3% 3.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 1,837% 5.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – -24.8% 1.6%
Operating income growth (1Y) 37.5% 24.1% 1.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 9.9% 7.6% 14.7%
Net income growth (1Y) 39.4% 62.7% 8.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 15.3% 23.4% 16.2%
EPS growth (1Y) 31.2% 64.4% 5.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 10.2% 25.9% 31.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 11.9% – 15.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -0.3% – 23.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -47.9% – -152.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -159.7% – -3.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricXELIXSO
Gross margin – 24.1% 83.3%
EBITDA margin 42.7% – 45.2%
Operating margin 21.7% 5.5% 24.2%
Pretax margin 16.8% 11.1% 17.4%
Net margin 17.9% 7.3% 15.4%
FCF margin -51.2% – -10.8%
Operating cash flow margin 34.1% – 35.3%
Return on equity 10.8% 14.1% 9.2%
Return on assets 3.0% 3.6% 2.9%
Return on invested capital 5.0% 3.0% 5.1%
Return on capital employed 4.1% – 5.1%
Asset turnover 0.2x 0.5x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.9x – 2.3x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricXELIXSO
Debt / assets 44.8% 34.6% 46.6%
Debt / equity 1.6x 1.3x 1.8x
Net debt / EBITDA 6.0x – 5.3x
Debt / FCF -5.3x – -23.1x
Liabilities / assets 71.9% 73.8% 73.9%
Equity / assets 28.1% 26.2% 26.1%
Interest coverage 1.9x 2.4x 2.3x
Current ratio 0.7x – 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.4x – 0.4x
Cash ratio 0.3x – 0.2x
Altman Z-score 0.86 – –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricXELIXSO
Dividend yield 3.0% 1.0% 3.2%
Net buyback yield -6.0% – –
Shareholder yield -3.1% 1.0% 3.2%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 66.6%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – -94.8%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 4.7%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 1.2%

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.

ConsensusXELIXSO
Forward P/E 18.4xFY2026 8.1xFY2026 19.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $4.30FY2026 $4.59FY2026 $4.84FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +13.2%FY2026 +80.7%FY2026 +12.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +2.1% -27.7% -3.1%
Revenue, next fiscal year $16.60BFY2026 $22.87BFY2026 $31.54BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +13.1%FY2026 +8.2%FY2026 +6.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.4% -3.2% +8.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersXELIXSO
Held by institutions 95.4% 3.3% 72.5%
Institutions holding 1,286 319 2,364
Change in shares held, QoQ +7.3% +9.5% +5.7%
Institutions buying 665 210 1,248
Institutions selling 386 57 725
Buyers to sellers 1.72 3.68 1.72

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.

XELIXSO
XEL 1.00 0.10 0.78
IX 0.10 1.00 0.10
SO 0.78 0.10 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, XEL, IX and SO?

Southern (SO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Xcel Energy (XEL) $50.23B, Orix (IX) $41.12B, Southern (SO) $106.62B.

Which stock is cheaper, XEL, IX and SO?

Orix (IX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Xcel Energy (XEL) 18.8x, Orix (IX) 10.3x, Southern (SO) 22.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Orix (IX) is cheapest (Xcel Energy (XEL) 18.4x, Orix (IX) 8.1x, Southern (SO) 19.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Southern (SO) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Xcel Energy (XEL) +4.5%, Orix (IX) +2.8%, Southern (SO) +6.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

Xcel Energy (XEL) has the highest net margin (Xcel Energy (XEL) 17.9%, Orix (IX) 7.3%, Southern (SO) 15.4%). On return on invested capital, Southern (SO) leads (Xcel Energy (XEL) 5.0%, Orix (IX) 3.0%, Southern (SO) 5.1%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Orix (IX) returned the most: Xcel Energy (XEL) -0.8%, Orix (IX) +53.6%, Southern (SO) -0.5%. Over five years, Orix (IX) compounded fastest (Xcel Energy (XEL) +4.1%/yr, Orix (IX) +13.5%/yr, Southern (SO) +8.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Xcel Energy (XEL) 0.00%, Orix (IX) 0.00%, Southern (SO) 0.03%. Xcel Energy (XEL) and Orix (IX) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Southern (SO) has been the steadiest (Xcel Energy (XEL) 19.3%, Orix (IX) 28.6%, Southern (SO) 17.9%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, XEL, IX and SO?

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 5. 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.