Duke Energy (DUK) ended the recent trading session at $120.17, demonstrating a -1.34% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 2.36% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 2.48%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.55%.

Coming into today, shares of the electric utility had gained 2.27% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector lost 1.74%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.6%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Duke Energy in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on May 6, 2025. On that day, Duke Energy is projected to report earnings of $1.62 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.5%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $8 billion, indicating a 4.26% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.32 per share and a revenue of $31.72 billion, representing changes of +7.12% and +4.48%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Duke Energy. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Duke Energy currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Looking at its valuation, Duke Energy is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 19.26. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 18.32.

It is also worth noting that DUK currently has a PEG ratio of 3.04. 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. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Utility - Electric Power industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.73.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 40, putting it in the top 17% 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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