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Duke Energy (DUK) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed at $95.09 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.98% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.68%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.06%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.7%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the electric utility had lost 5.87% over the past month. This has lagged the Utilities sector's loss of 3.59% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 6.68% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Duke Energy as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Duke Energy is projected to report earnings of $1.42 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.23%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.57 billion, up 6.11% from the year-ago period.

DUK's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.63 per share and revenue of $29.38 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.83% and +0.83%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher within the past month. Duke Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Duke Energy is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.72. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.69.

Also, we should mention that DUK has a PEG ratio of 3.07. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Utility - Electric Power industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.93 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, putting it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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