Sifting through countless of stocks in the Electric Utilities industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc.

Duke Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. The company 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 fuel. This segment also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and other load-serving entities. The GU&I segment distributes natural gas to customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas sectors; and invests in pipeline transmission projects, renewable natural gas projects, and natural gas storage facilities. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2006. Duke Energy Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

NextEra Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, generates, stores, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. It operates through Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) and NEER segments. The company generates electricity from wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas, and other clean energy assets. It also invests in generation, storage, transmission, and distribution facilities; owns, develops, constructs, manages, and operates generation facilities, including renewables, nuclear and natural gas, and battery storage facilities in the wholesale energy market in the United States and Canada, as well as electric and gas transmission assets, and natural gas pipelines; provides full energy and capacity requirement services; markets and trades in energy-related commodities; and participates in the production of natural gas, natural gas liquids, and oil. As of December 31, 2025, the company had approximately 35,963 megawatts of net generating capacity; approximately 93,000 circuit miles of transmission and distribution lines; and 932 substations. It serves approximately 12 million people through approximately 6 million customer accounts on the east and lower west coasts of Florida. The company was formerly known as FPL Group, Inc. and changed its name to NextEra Energy, Inc. in 2010. NextEra Energy, Inc. was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida.

Latest Electric Utilities and Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy, Inc. Stock News

As of May 20, 2026, Duke Energy Corporation had a $96.5 billion market capitalization, compared to the Electric Utilities median of $17.7 million. Duke Energy Corporation’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 5.83% in the past year.

Currently, Duke Energy Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 19.0. Duke Energy Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $32.7 billion with a 15.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 11.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $6.705 per share for the current fiscal year. Duke Energy Corporation currently has a 3.4% dividend yield.

Currently, NextEra Energy, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 22.4. NextEra Energy, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $27.9 billion with a 29.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 7.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.018 per share for the current fiscal year. NextEra Energy, Inc. currently has a 2.8% dividend yield.

How We Compare Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	C
NextEra Energy, Inc.	NEE	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Duke Energy Corporation has a Value Score of 54, which is Average. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a Value Score of 27, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	A
NextEra Energy, Inc.	NEE	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Duke Energy Corporation has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a Growth Score of 78, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Duke Energy Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Duke Energy Corporation has a more attractive growth grade than NextEra Energy, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Duke Energy Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Duke Energy Corporation	DUK	C
NextEra Energy, Inc.	NEE	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Duke Energy Corporation has a Quality Score of 47, which is Average. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a Quality Score of 32, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Other Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. Grades

In addition to Quality, Growth and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Duke Energy Corporation stock has a Value Score of 54, Growth Score of 100 and Quality Score of 47.

NextEra Energy, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 27, Growth Score of 78 and Quality Score of 32.

Comparing Duke Energy Corporation, NextEra Energy and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.