Company Reports

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. The utility is installing 300 megawatts of solar annually with additional infrastructure investment opportunities.

We are maintaining our $112 per share Duke Energy fair value estimate after the company reported full-year 2023 adjusted earnings per share of $5.56 compared with $5.27 in 2022. Duke Energy remains one of the cheapest utilities in our U.S. coverage, trading at a 15% discount to our fair value estimate as of Feb. 8. We don't think the market fully appreciates Duke's constructive regulatory environments and long runway of regulated growth opportunities.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. The utility is installing 300 megawatts of solar annually with additional infrastructure investment opportunities.

We are increasing our Duke Energy fair value estimate to $112 from $105 after the utility received a constructive outcome in its Duke Energy Carolinas rate review. Our narrow moat rating is unchanged.

With the U.N. Climate Change Conference, otherwise known as COP28, starting this week, we are reasserting our view that the market underappreciates utilities' critical role in limiting global warming.

We are maintaining our $105 fair value estimate for narrow-moat Duke Energy after the company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.94 compared with $1.78 in the year-ago period.

We are reaffirming our fair value estimates and economic moat ratings for all U.S. utilities after the sector fell nearly 5% on Monday. We think the sector's 11% drop since last week offers a rare opportunity for investors to buy high-quality utilities at very attractive prices.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. We expect significant solar growth in the region and storm-hardening investments.

We are maintaining our $105 per share Duke Energy fair value estimate after the company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.91 compared with $1.09 in the same year-ago period.

After announcing plans earlier this week to divest its commercial renewable energy business, Duke will become a fully regulated utility with a clear pathway to achieving management’s 5% to 7% earnings growth target. Duke Energy is the third cheapest utility on our sector coverage list as of mid-June, trading at a 13% discount to our $105 per share fair value estimate. Last August, Duke traded at an 11% premium to our fair value estimate. Duke’s 4.4% yield is among the highest in the sector and a 70-basis-point premium to the sector median. Given Duke's higher payout ratio, we expect dividend growth to lag earnings growth.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. We expect significant solar growth in the region and storm-hardening investments.

We are maintaining our $105 Duke Energy fair value estimate after the company announced it had reached an agreement to sell the company's 3.4-gigawatt renewable energy portfolio to Brookfield Renewable Partners for $2.8 billion, including debt. Our narrow moat rating remains unchanged.

We are maintaining our $105 per share Duke Energy fair value estimate after the company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.20 compared with $1.29 in the same year-ago period.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. We expect significant solar growth in the region and storm-hardening investments.

We are maintaining our $102 per share Duke Energy fair value estimate after the company reported full-year 2022 adjusted earnings per share of $5.27, up from $4.99 in 2021. Management reaffirmed 2023 EPS guidance of $5.55 to $5.75, in line with our estimate. Our stable moat trend and narrow moat remain unchanged.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. We expect significant solar growth in the region and storm-hardening investments.

We are maintaining our $101 fair value estimate for Duke Energy after the company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.78 compared with $1.88 in the year-ago period. Management lowered its 2022 adjusted EPS guidance to $5.20-$5.30 from $5.30-$5.60 and initiated 2023 EPS guidance of $5.55-$5.75. Our narrow moat and stable moat trend ratings are unchanged.

We are reaffirming our fair value estimates for U.S. utilities after raising our 10-year annual U.S. electricity demand growth forecast to 1.4%, up from 1.2% in our previous forecast two years ago. We also are reaffirming our economic moat and moat trend ratings for all U.S. utilities.

Our initial analysis of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden plans to sign on Aug. 16 has led us to reaffirm or make slight increases to our fair value estimates for U.S. utilities. We are reaffirming our moat and moat trend ratings.

Duke Energy is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States. Florida is Duke's most constructive and attractive jurisdiction, with higher-than-average load growth and best-in-class regulation that allows for higher-than-average returns on equity, forward-looking rates, and automatic base-rate adjustments. We expect significant solar growth in the region and storm-hardening investments.