Disappointing Duke (DUK)
November 5, 2008 by Douglas A. McIntyre
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK) shares are trading down on fairly active volume. Earlier this morning, the company reported EPS of $0.33, compared with analysts’ estimates of $0.45. Revenue also was a big miss: $3.5 billion compared with expectations of $3.92 billion.
The disappointing results were attributed to milder weather, expensesto recover from flooding in the Midwest, cost recovery problems inOhio, and overall economic conditions. The company expects to miss itsemployee incentive target fiscal year EPS of $1.27 by a nickel.
Duke has raised its cash-on-hand position to $1.88 billion from $675million a year ago, and its long-term debt is a reasonable 40% of itsmarket cap. But the poor performance in the third quarter will weakenthe share price even more.
Shares are down over 4% at $16.20 and its 52-week trading range is $13.50 to $20.78.
Paul Ausick
November 5, 2008
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