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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 $94.75, marking a +0.06% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.16%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.64%.

Coming into today, shares of the electric utility had lost 1.17% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector gained 0.29%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.07%.

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.

DUK's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.62 per share and revenue of $29.55 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.64% and +1.4%, respectively.

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. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% lower 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 16.84. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.89, which means Duke Energy is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that DUK has a PEG ratio of 3.09. 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. DUK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.83 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 146, putting it in the bottom 43% 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.

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


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