AEP vs DUK

American Electric Power and Duke Energy, both Utilities

Duke Energy is the larger company at $97B against $69B. On trailing earnings AEP is the cheaper of the two at a P/E of 18.2 against 18.7, a gap that is only a bargain if the two are growing at similar rates. Over the past year AEP returned +12% against +0.7% for DUK. Ryufin's sector-relative Smart Score puts AEP ahead, 8/10 against 6/10.

American Electric Power and Duke Energycompared on valuation, return and Ryufin’s Smart Score
FigureAEPDUK
Last close$123$122
Market cap$69B$97B
Trailing P/Elower is cheaper for the same earnings, not automatically better18.218.7
Dividend yield3.0%3.5%
1-year return+12%+0.7%
5-year return+68%+41%
Ryufin Smart Scoresector-relative, 1–108/106/10

Figures from SEC filings and end-of-day closes. Highlighting marks the higher or lower number, which is not the same as the better investment, a low P/E can be a warning and a high one can be deserved.

American Electric Power

Revenue of $6.0B in Q1 2026, net income $903M. Its largest reported line is Electric Generation Transmission Distribution, 18% of the disclosed total.

Duke Energy

Revenue of $9.2B in Q1 2026, net income $1.6B. Its largest reported line is Electric Utilitiesand Infrastructure, 94% of the disclosed total.

Open these two in the interactive comparison to add more names, change the period or read the correlation.