Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin DUK

Competitive advantage analysis · utilities

Regulated Utilities
Overall moat score
61/100
Moderate

About Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin

Duke Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I); and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity to customers in the Southeast and Midwest regions. It generates electricity through coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewables, and nuclear … Full DUK analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Strong Regulated Margins Regulated margin level is strong (score 0.74), indicating favourable rate-case outcomes.
  • Strong Operating Cash Generation Operating cash generation is strong (score 0.86), supporting dividend sustainability.

Key risks

  • Below-Allowed ROE Return on equity is weak vs peers (score 0.38), implying the company may not be earning its allowed return.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Regulatory Franchise

Moderate
69

Where DUK ranks in Utilities - Regulated Electric

Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin ranks #9 of 40 scored companies in Utilities - Regulated Electric by moat score — the top 22%. The widest moat in the group is MGE Energy Inc. (MGEE) at 73/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near DUK in Utilities - Regulated Electric
# Company Moat score Rating
5 WEC Energy Group, Inc. WEC 64/100 Moderate
6 Central Puerto S.A. CEPU 64/100 Moderate
7 National Grid Transco, PLC Nati NGG 63/100 Moderate
8 Fortis Inc. FTS 63/100 Moderate
9 Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin DUK 61/100 Moderate
10 Evergy, Inc. EVRG 59/100 Moderate
11 NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE 59/100 Moderate
12 Avangrid, Inc. AGR 58/100 Moderate
13 IDACORP, Inc. IDA 57/100 Moderate

See every Regulated Utilities company ranked by moat score →

How DUK scores on the Regulated Utilities defenses

Regulatory Franchise

Score 69 · 25% of the moat score

The franchise is the moat, granted rather than earned: an exclusive right to serve a territory in exchange for regulated prices and an obligation to supply.

Rate-Base Return Quality

Score 45 · 20% of the moat score

A utility earns an allowed return on the capital invested in its network, the rate base.

Dividend Sustainability

Score 66 · 18% of the moat score

Utilities are owned largely for income, and the dividend is only as safe as the operating cash flow behind it.

Capital Structure Discipline

Score 51 · 17% of the moat score

Regulated utilities carry more debt than almost any other sector, which suits how predictable their revenue is but makes credit quality a core competitive asset.

Operational Efficiency

Score 71 · 12% of the moat score

Efficiency is unusually consequential under regulation.

Essential Service Resilience

Score 74 · 8% of the moat score

Electricity, gas and water are bought in a recession at close to the volume bought in an expansion, which is why utility revenue barely tracks the economic cycle.

How each Regulated Utilities defense is measured, in full →

Understanding DUK's moat

What is Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin's moat score?

Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin (DUK) scores 61 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #9 of 40 scored companies in Utilities - Regulated Electric, the top 22%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 46 companies in Utilities - Regulated Electric. Its strongest defense is Essential Service Resilience (74/100) and its weakest is Rate-Base Return Quality (45/100).

How does Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin compare with other Utilities - Regulated Electric companies?

Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin ranks #9 of 40 scored companies in Utilities - Regulated Electric by moat score. The widest moat in Utilities - Regulated Electric is MGE Energy Inc. (MGEE) at 73/100. The companies ranked closest are Fortis Inc. (FTS) at 63 just above it and Evergy, Inc. (EVRG) at 59 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Regulated Utilities in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 46 companies in Utilities - Regulated Electric. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin scored with the Regulated Utilities template?

A regulated utility is a legal monopoly whose prices are set by a regulator rather than by a market. It cannot raise prices at will and it cannot be undercut, so most of the usual questions about competitive advantage barely apply. What matters is the quality of the regulatory bargain: whether the company earns the return it is allowed, funds its capital programme cheaply, and sustains the dividend investors own it for.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Duke Energy Corporation (Holdin?

The Regulated Utilities template measures 6 defenses, and DUK scores: Regulatory Franchise (69), Rate-Base Return Quality (45), Dividend Sustainability (66), Capital Structure Discipline (51), Operational Efficiency (71), Essential Service Resilience (74). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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