Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed at $99.13 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.61% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.1%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.19%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the electric utility had gained 7.44% over the past month. This has lagged the Utilities sector's gain of 7.64% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 3.13% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Duke Energy as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.40, up 7.69% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.43 billion, up 4.19% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.62 per share and revenue of $29.55 billion, which would represent changes of +6.64% and +1.4%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% lower. Duke Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Duke Energy currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.73. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.93, 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 3.26. 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 3.02 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 155, which puts it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Duke Energy Corporation (DUK) - free report >>

Published in