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Duke Energy (DUK) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed at $96.83 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.83% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.7%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.87%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.77%.

Coming into today, shares of the electric utility had lost 4.4% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector lost 1.94%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.06%.

Duke Energy will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. 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, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.57 billion, up 6.11% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.63 per share and revenue of $29.38 billion, which would represent changes of +6.83% and +0.83%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy should also be noted by investors. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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 holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, Duke Energy is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.89. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.94, so we one might conclude that Duke Energy is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that DUK has a PEG ratio of 3.1. 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. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.94 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 147, which puts it in the bottom 42% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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