Is the business good?
How good a business is DUK?
Duke Energy earns 5.0% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
5.0%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 4.0 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 27%
Operating margin · Utilities - Regulated Electric median 22% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- −0.64×
Cash conversion · −0.04× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- +0.26%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 20% |
| FY2021 | 22% |
| FY2022 | 21% |
| FY2023 | 24% |
| FY2024 | 26% |
| FY2025 | 27% |
Details›
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 27%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 15%
- Free cash flow margin
- −10.0%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $33.2B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$3.30B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $5.14B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.0%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Utilities - Regulated Electric
Ranks #16 of 37 by Smart Score