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Duke Energy (DUK) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Duke Energy (DUK - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $89.72, moving -1.3% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.77%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.23%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the electric utility had gained 2.26% over the past month. This has outpaced the Utilities sector's gain of 0.51% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 4.66% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Duke Energy as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Duke Energy to post earnings of $1.14 per share. This would mark no growth from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.7 billion, up 0.17% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.61 per share and revenue of $29.41 billion. These totals would mark changes of +6.45% and +0.93%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.13% lower. Duke Energy is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Duke Energy's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 16.2. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.71, so we one might conclude that Duke Energy is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that DUK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.65. 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 2.89 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, which puts it in the top 27% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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