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

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In the latest trading session, Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed at $89.15, marking a +0.09% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.75% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.32%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.11%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the electric utility had lost 18.94% over the past month. This has lagged the Utilities sector's loss of 15.22% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.4% 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 $1.85, down 1.6% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.19 billion, up 3.38% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.45 per share and revenue of $27.43 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.01% and +9.29%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Duke Energy is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Duke Energy currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.35. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.02, which means Duke Energy is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that DUK has a PEG ratio of 2.74 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.75 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 82, which puts it in the top 33% 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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