- Southern Co. (SO -2%) drops sharply after management says during its earnings call that it sees Q1 2015 EPS of $0.55 and full-year 2015 EPS of $2.76-$2.88, below consensus estimates of $0.59 and $2.87, respectively.
- SO reported earlier that its Q4 earnings matched analysts' projections while its revenues easily beat them, as it enjoyed positive retail revenue effects at its traditional operating companies that were offset by an 11% increase in maintenance and operating expenses to $3.46B.
- Q4 residential energy kilowatt-hour sales and commercial energy sales fell slightly, but industrial energy sales and total energy sales rose.
- Unadjusted results included a $43M loss related to the delayed clean coal plant project in Kemper County, Miss., whose costs had grown to $6.13B through November.
- CEO Tom Fanning says the company will hold off on pushing for a new nuclear power project until it resolves issues in the delayed nuclear expansion of Plant Vogtle in Georgia.