Duke Energy (DUK) Competitors

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

Is DUK or NEE more profitable?

NextEra Energy has a net margin of 26.49% compared to Duke Energy's net margin of 14.31%. NextEra Energy's return on equity of 11.94% beat Duke Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Duke Energy	14.31%	9.34%	2.53%
NextEra Energy	26.49%	11.94%	3.86%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer DUK or NEE?

NextEra Energy received 159 more outperform votes than Duke Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.75% of users gave NextEra Energy an outperform vote while only 53.82% of users gave Duke Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Duke Energy	Outperform Votes 613 53.82%	Underperform Votes 526 46.18%
NextEra Energy	Outperform Votes 772 71.75%	Underperform Votes 304 28.25%

Which has more volatility and risk, DUK or NEE?

Duke Energy has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextEra Energy has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 3.7%. NextEra Energy pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Duke Energy pays out 76.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NextEra Energy pays out 60.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Duke Energy has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years and NextEra Energy has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer DUK or NEE?

Duke Energy currently has a consensus target price of $121.85, indicating a potential upside of 7.09%. NextEra Energy has a consensus target price of $86.54, indicating a potential upside of 12.58%. Given NextEra Energy's 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)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
NextEra Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has higher valuation and earnings, DUK or NEE?

NextEra Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Duke Energy. Duke Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NextEra 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	$29.06B	3.02	$2.84B	$5.44	20.92
NextEra Energy	$28.11B	5.62	$7.31B	$3.38	22.74

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in 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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of NextEra Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor DUK or NEE?

In the previous week, NextEra Energy had 11 more articles in the media than Duke Energy. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for NextEra Energy and 26 mentions for Duke Energy. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Duke Energy's score of 1.33 indicating that NextEra Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Duke Energy	20 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NextEra Energy	36 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Duke Energy on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.