Southern is one of the largest utilities in the US. The company serves 9 million customers with vertically integrated electric utilities in three states and natural gas distribution utilities in four states. It owns 46 gigawatts of rate-regulated generating capacity, primarily for serving customers in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Subsidiary Southern Power owns 13 gigawatts of natural gas generation and renewable energy across the US and sells the electricity primarily under long-term contracts.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

Southern Co. is an electric and gas utility and wholesaler with 9 million customers and over 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Southern's 4.6 million regulated electricity customers are primarily located in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Its gas utilities provide distribution and wholesale gas operations with over 78,000 pipeline miles regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. SO serves about 4.4 million state-regulated gas customers, with operations in Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois, and Virginia. The company also offers digital wireless and fiber-optic services and operates about 4,000 route miles. In 2025, consolidated operating revenues were $29.6 billion, of which about 17% were from gas operations and about 65% were from retail electric operations. The company's largest utility, Georgia Power, accounted for about 43% of total revenues. SO's fuel mix is about 49% natural gas, 18% coal, 19% nuclear, and 14% renewables. It is working to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, later than peers without coal generation. The company faced rising costs and delays building its latest two nuclear generators - the first U.S. nuclear units built in the last 30 years. Vogtle 3 became operational in July 2023, and Vogtle 4 became fully operational in April 2024. SO shares are a component of the S&P 500. The company's market cap is $109 billion.

This is the biggest earnings week of this reporting season by volume, with nearly 1,600 public companies on the list. It's also a jobs week. The major indices -- especially the Nasdaq -- had a volatile last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both ended up 1%, while the Nasdaq gained about 1.5%. Year to date, all three indices are in positive territory and all are up by about 9%. On the earnings calendar, headliners include Palantir Technologies and Marriott on Monday; SpaceX, AMD, Caterpillar, Merck, and McDonald's on Tuesday; Eli Lilly, Walt Disney, Sandisk, Uber, and CVS Health on Wednesday; ConocoPhillips, Parker-Hannifin, and Constellation Energy on Thursday; and Berkshire Hathaway on Friday. Some 42% of S&P 500 companies have reported as of last week. Earnings so far are up a whopping 40% from last quarter, with Energy and Communication Services leading the charge and Healthcare at the bottom. On the economic calendar, the jobs report for July comes out on Friday. Ahead of that, several other labor indicators will hit the tape, including the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and the ADP employment report. Turing to economic forecasts, gas prices ticked up last week, rising 10 cents to an average of $4.10 per gallon for regular gas. Elsewhere, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecasts call for 3Q GDP growth of 5.0% -- a big jump from the 1.5% reported last week for 2Q. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast forecasts is for CPI of 3.4% in July, unchanged from last week's forecast. Mortgage rates rose another eight basis points last week, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now at 6.66%, according to FreddieMac. The next Federal Open Market Committee rate decision is on September 16. Odds are at 63% for a rate hike at that meeting, up from 37% last week. Taking a deeper dive into performance so far in 2026, a leading industrialized global stock market index, the ETF EFA, is up 10% year to date, while the leading emerging market ETF (EEM) is up 17%. U.S. growth stocks are down 1% looking at ETF IWF, while value stocks (IWD) are up 19%. Crude oil prices continue to be volatile. On Friday, oil closed at $85 per barrel and is up 46% for the year to date. In other asset classes for the year to date, AGG bonds are down 3%, gold is down 7%, and Bitcoin is down 28%. The U.S. dollar is up 2%, tracking DXY. The VIX Volatility Index was at about 17 on Friday, below its historical average of 20. Turning to sector performance, the list from first to worst so far in 2026 is Energy (+32%), Information Technology (+22%), Industrials (+15%), Materials (+14%), Real Estate (+12%), Consumer Staples (+10%), Healthcare (+6%), Utilities (+5%), Financials (+4%), Consumer Discretionary (-6%), and Communication Services (-10%).