FirstEnergy (FE) Competitors

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

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, FE or DUK?

Duke Energy has higher revenue and earnings than FirstEnergy. Duke Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FirstEnergy, 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
FirstEnergy	$13.95B	1.66	$1.10B	$1.88	21.40
Duke Energy	$30.94B	2.92	$4.52B	$6.03	19.28

Does the media favor FE or DUK?

In the previous week, Duke Energy had 19 more articles in the media than FirstEnergy. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Duke Energy and 19 mentions for FirstEnergy. Duke Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat FirstEnergy's score of 1.00 indicating that Duke Energy is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
FirstEnergy	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Duke Energy	24 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FE or DUK?

Duke Energy received 7 more outperform votes than FirstEnergy when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.28% of users gave FirstEnergy an outperform vote while only 53.81% of users gave Duke Energy an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
FirstEnergy	Outperform Votes 614 56.28%	Underperform Votes 477 43.72%
Duke Energy	Outperform Votes 621 53.81%	Underperform Votes 533 46.19%

Is FE or DUK a better dividend stock?

FirstEnergy pays an annual dividend of $1.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Duke Energy pays an annual dividend of $4.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. FirstEnergy pays out 94.7% 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 pays out 69.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FirstEnergy has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Duke Energy has increased its dividend for 20 consecutive years.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FE or DUK?

89.4% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Duke Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of FirstEnergy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Duke Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is FE or DUK more profitable?

Duke Energy has a net margin of 14.90% compared to FirstEnergy's net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy's return on equity of 11.38% beat Duke Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstEnergy	6.64%	11.38%	2.93%
Duke Energy	14.90%	9.50%	2.56%

Do analysts prefer FE or DUK?

FirstEnergy currently has a consensus price target of $46.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.31%. Duke Energy has a consensus price target of $125.81, suggesting a potential upside of 8.20%. Given FirstEnergy's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe FirstEnergy is more favorable than Duke Energy.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstEnergy	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Duke Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56

Which has more risk and volatility, FE or DUK?

FirstEnergy has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Duke Energy has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Duke Energy beats FirstEnergy on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.