Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) will report its third-quarter earnings Wednesday before the U.S. markets open. Thomson Reuters has consensus analyst estimates of $1.52 in earnings per share and $7.21 billion in revenue. In the third quarter of the previous year, Duke posted $1.46 in earnings per share and $6.71 billion in revenue.
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Duke is planning to submit a proposed wind farm and energy storage project that would generate 9.2 million megawatt hours of electricity, according to its proponents. That is enough to power 1.2 million homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. This project is expected to be submitted by early next year.
The $8.1 billion project includes a $4 billion wind farm in Wyoming, a $1.5 billion energy storage facility in Utah and a new 525-mile high-voltage transmission line costing $2.6 billion to tie the two together. The four companies proposing the project are Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, which would build the wind farm; Magnum Energy and Dresser-Rand Group Inc. (NYSE: DRC), which would join Pathfinder in constructing the compressed air energy storage system in the western desert of Utah; and Duke-American Transmission, a joint venture between Duke Energy and American Transmission that would build the transmission line.
Duke was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Wells Fargo on September 16. CRT Capital reiterated a Buy rating and lifted its price target to $84 from $77 on November 3.
Duke briefly tested and then crossed under the 50-day moving average in early August. The 200-day moving average, reading below the 50-day moving average at this time, acted as strong support. Duke bounced back above the 50-day moving average and has remained there since.
Shares of Duke were trading almost even at $82.37 with three hours left in regular trading Tuesday. The consensus analyst price target is $78.25, and the 52-week trading range is $67.05 to $82.80. Duke has a market cap near $58 billion.
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