These firms believe that the Company will continue to generate steady earnings and dividend growth in the coming years, thus maintaining its outlook for the stock. While the Company’s premium valuation is justified, given its dominant regional presence and strong regulatory relationships, the firms see limited upside from current levels. However, they continue to regard SO as a solid core holding in the utility sector in the long term.

With a large portion of its revenue coming from industrial sales, the Company is sensitive to changes in the economy. While this has worked against SO over most of the past few quarters, the firms expect the significant industrial exposure to boost results over the balance of the year with improving activity levels. The firms also expect the revenue associated with the recovery of investments in environmental equipment to be rising and investors to recognize the value of the company's growing competitive generation business.