Duke Energy (DUK) Competitors

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) and NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.

Do analysts rate DUK or NEE?

Duke Energy currently has a consensus price target of $123.87, suggesting a potential upside of 2.63%. NextEra Energy has a consensus price target of $84.08, suggesting a potential upside of 26.51%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NextEra Energy is more favorable than Duke Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Duke Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53
NextEra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Is DUK or NEE more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 28.06% compared to Duke Energy's net margin of 14.90%. NextEra Energy's return on equity of 11.85% beat Duke Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Duke Energy	14.90%	9.50%	2.56%
NextEra Energy	28.06%	11.85%	3.81%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of DUK or NEE?

65.3% of Duke Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.7% of NextEra Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Duke Energy shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, DUK or NEE?

NextEra Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Duke Energy. NextEra Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Duke Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Duke Energy	$30.36B	3.09	$4.52B	$5.71	21.14
NextEra Energy	$24.75B	5.53	$6.95B	$3.37	19.72

Does the media favor DUK or NEE?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 47 more articles in the media than Duke Energy. MarketBeat recorded 95 mentions for NextEra Energy and 48 mentions for Duke Energy. Duke Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat NextEra Energy's score of 1.24 indicating that Duke Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Duke Energy	33 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NextEra Energy	64 Very Positive mention(s)	17 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, DUK or NEE?

Duke Energy has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in DUK or NEE?

NextEra Energy received 163 more outperform votes than Duke Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.68% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 53.83% of users gave Duke Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Duke Energy	Outperform Votes 619 53.83%	Underperform Votes 531 46.17%
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 782 71.68%	Underperform Votes 309 28.32%

Is DUK or NEE a better dividend stock?

Duke Energy pays an annual dividend of $4.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Duke Energy pays out 73.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NextEra Energy pays out 67.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Duke Energy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years and NextEra Energy has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Duke Energy on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.