Duke Energy (DUK) To Gain From Investments In Growth Projects

We issued an updated research report on Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) . The company is a premier utility service provider offering efficient power and energy services across the United States and several other international locations.

What’s Driving the Stock?

Duke Energy is expanding scale of operations and implementing modern technologies in its facilities. The company invests heavily in infrastructure and expansion projects. Segment wise, the company expects to spend about $37.6 billion toward electric utilities and infrastructure, $7.6 billion for gas utilities and infrastructure as well as $1.5 billion for commercial renewable during the 2018-2022 time period.

Duke Energy’s commercial renewable business expanded through the addition of distributed solar companies and projects, energy storage systems as well as energy management solutions, which are specifically tailored for commercial businesses. These factors are expected to boost the company’s renewable asset base.

The company is striving to reduce carbon emission and is investing in natural gas.Currently, the company is focusing on mainline construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West Virginia and North Carolina, post FERC approval in the second quarter. Duke Energy projects the pipeline to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2019. Going forward, the company’s five-year plan includes investment of $3 billion in highly-efficient natural gas-fired combined-cycle plants.

However, stringent environmental regulations, pending regulatory cases, volatile commodity prices, severe weather patterns and foreign exchange risks may hinder Duke Energy’s performance.

In the third quarter of 2018, Duke Energy’s adjusted earnings of $1.65 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53 by 7.8%. Companies from the same industry that reported a beat in the earnings season are NiSource Inc (NYSE:NI) , DTE Energy Co (NYSE:DTE) and FirstEnergy Corp (NYSE:FE) .

Earnings of NiSource, DTE Energy and FirstEnergy beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 66.7%, 22.4% and 9.59 in the third quarter, respectively.

Zacks Rank & Price Movement

Duke Energy presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In year-to-date, shares of Duke Energy have gained 2.7% compared with the industry’s rise of 0.2%.

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