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 compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Do analysts rate DUK or NEE?

Duke Energy presently has a consensus price target of $123.87, suggesting a potential upside of 1.87%. NextEra Energy has a consensus price target of $83.46, suggesting a potential upside of 24.42%. Given NextEra Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DUK or NEE?

NextEra Energy received 164 more outperform votes than Duke Energy when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.64% 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 783 71.64%	Underperform Votes 310 28.36%

Which has more volatility and risk, DUK or NEE?

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

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%

Which has stronger valuation & 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	$30.36B	3.11	$4.52B	$5.71	21.29
NextEra Energy	$25.27B	5.46	$6.95B	$2.67	25.12

Does the media refer more to DUK or NEE?

In the previous week, Duke Energy and Duke Energy both had 35 articles in the media. NextEra Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Duke Energy's score of 1.05 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	22 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
NextEra Energy	25 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 3.4%. 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 84.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Duke Energy has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years and NextEra Energy has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. Duke Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders & institutionals believe 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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

NextEra Energy beats Duke Energy on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.