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Duke Energy (DUK) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $110.04, moving +0.83% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.71% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.27%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.14%.

Heading into today, shares of the electric utility had gained 8.89% over the past month, outpacing the Utilities sector's gain of 6.76% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.76% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Duke Energy as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.34, up 6.35% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.46 billion, up 5.12% from the year-ago period.

DUK's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.46 per share and revenue of $26.16 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.2% and +4.24%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.03% lower. Duke Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note Duke Energy's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 19.98. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 19.4, which means Duke Energy is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that DUK has a PEG ratio of 3.28 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Utility - Electric Power industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.52 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 215, which puts it in the bottom 16% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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