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Why Duke Energy Stock Deserves a Spot in Your Portfolio Right Now

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Key Takeaways

  • Duke Energy projects 2025 EPS of $6.32 and revenues of $31.76B, marking steady year-over-year growth.
  • DUK plans $190-$200B in investments over the next decade to support its clean energy transition.
  • DUK targets major solar and wind capacity additions through 2035 to expand its renewable portfolio.

Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) continues to invest consistently in infrastructure and expansion projects to enhance service reliability for its customers. The company is also progressively increasing its renewable generation portfolio. Given its growth opportunities, DUK makes for a solid investment option in the Zacks Utility Electric Power industry.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a promising investment pick at the moment.

DUK’s Growth Outlook & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DUK’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at $6.32, which implies a year-over-year rise of 7.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DUK’s 2025 revenues stands at $31.76 billion, which indicates growth of 4.6% from the 2024 reported figure.

DUK’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 6.6%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 3.12% in the last four quarters.

DUK’s Return to Shareholders

Duke Energy has been increasing shareholder value by steadily paying dividends. Currently, the company’s quarterly dividend is $1.065 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.26. DUK’s current dividend yield is 3.39%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's average of 1.5%.

Duke Energy’s Capital Deployment Plan

DUK is actively focused on scaling up its operations, adopting advanced technologies across its facilities, and strengthening its renewable generation portfolio through substantial investments in infrastructure and expansion projects. 

To meet the growing customer demand, the company plans to invest $190-$200 billion over the next decade, with a significant portion dedicated to supporting its clean energy transition. The company currently intends to spend $87 billion during the 2025-2029 period.

DUK’s Renewable Expansion Initiatives

As of July 2025, Duke Energy operated 1,500 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity in Florida. Beginning in 2027, the company plans to bring an additional 1,500 MW of solar capacity online each year in the Carolinas and 900 MW annually in Florida. In the Carolinas, Duke Energy also aims to add 6,700 MW of solar and 2,700 MW of battery energy storage by 2031.

The company plans to introduce 1,200 MW of onshore wind in service by 2033, followed by 800-1,100 MW of offshore wind by 2034 and 2,200-2,400 MW by 2035. These ambitious renewable capacity expansion initiatives are expected to further strengthen Duke Energy’s presence in the rapidly growing renewable energy market.

DUK’s Solvency

Duke Energy’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the second quarter of 2025 was 2.6. The TIE ratio is an important indicator of a company’s financial stability, measuring its capacity to meet long-term debt obligations. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

DUK Stock Price Performance

In the past month, Duke Energy shares have risen 4.3% compared with the industry’s growth of 2.9%.

Zacks Investment Research
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Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Dominion Energy, Inc. (D - Free Report) , Exelon Corporation (EXC - Free Report) and IDACORP Inc. (IDA - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

D’s long-term earnings growth rate is 13.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 EPS stands at $3.39, which calls for a year-over-year jump of 22.4%.

EXC’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.3%. The consensus estimate for its 2025 EPS is pegged at $2.69, which indicates a year-over-year rally of 7.6%.

IDA’s long-term earnings growth rate is 8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 EPS is pegged at $5.84, which implies a year-over-year rise of 6.2%.

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