Southern Co Misses Q1 Views

reported weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter on Wednesday. The Atlanta, Georgia-based company reported a quarterly profit of $508 million, or $0.56 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $351 million, or $0.39 per share. Excluding items, the company's earnings slipped to $0.56 per share from $0.66 per share. Its revenue slipped 9.9 percent year-over-year to $4.18 billion. However, analysts were estimating a profit of $0.58 per share on revenue of $4.6 billion. The average estimate among 3 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.57 per share and revenue of $4.5 billion. Its residential energy sales declined 4.2 percent in the quarter, while commercial sales dropped 1.1 percent. Industrial energy sales gained 1.9 percent in the same period. "We are encouraged by positive customer growth during the first quarter of 2015, along with strong industrial sales and an economic development pipeline that remains robust," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. "In the meantime, we remain focused on our core business strategy of providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity to customers throughout the Southeast." Southern shares fell 0.87 percent to $44.27 at 10:30 a.m. ET.