Duke Energy vs NRG Energy
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The short version
- Duke Energy is the larger business, with $31.7B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $30.7B for NRG Energy.
- NRG Energy grew revenue faster (9.2%, against 5.6%).
- Duke Energy kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (27.2% operating margin, against 6.0%).
- NRG Energy turned more of its sales into free cash flow (2.5% FCF margin, against −5.3%).
- NRG Energy earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (10.9%, against 5.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of NRG Energy’s earnings: a P/E of 24.2x against 19.1x for Duke Energy.
| Latest fiscal year | DUK · FY25 | NRG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $97.4B | $19.6B |
| Revenue | $31.7B | $30.7B |
| Free cash flow | −$1.7B | $766M |
| Net income | $5.0B | $864M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.6% | 9.2% |
| 5-year growth | 6.4% | 27.6% |
| Share count change | 0.7% | −6.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 27.2% | 6.0% |
| Net margin | 15.7% | 2.8% |
| FCF margin | −5.3% | 2.5% |
| Return on capital | 5.5% | 10.9% |
| Return on equity | 9.7% | 41.6% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $90.2B | $11.7B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.5x | 3.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $3.3B | $1.7B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 19.1x | 24.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
DUK $22.7B
NRG $8.9B
FY17
DUK $23.6B
NRG $9.1B
FY18
DUK $23.8B
NRG $9.5B
FY19
DUK $24.3B
NRG $9.8B
FY20
DUK $23.3B
NRG $9.1B
FY21
DUK $24.5B
NRG $27.0B
FY22
DUK $28.7B
NRG $31.5B
FY23
DUK $28.7B
NRG $28.8B
FY24
DUK $30.1B
NRG $28.1B
FY25
DUK $31.7B
NRG $30.7B
DUK
NRG
Operating margin
FY16
DUK 22.9%
NRG 0.4%
FY17
DUK 23.9%
NRG −8.2%
FY18
DUK 19.7%
NRG 10.4%
FY19
DUK 23.5%
NRG 13.1%
FY20
DUK 19.7%
NRG 12.2%
FY21
DUK 22.5%
NRG 12.4%
FY22
DUK 21.0%
NRG 6.4%
FY23
DUK 24.7%
NRG 1.3%
FY24
DUK 26.4%
NRG 8.6%
FY25
DUK 27.2%
NRG 6.0%
DUK
NRG
Free cash flow
FY16
DUK −$1.0B
NRG $1.4B
FY17
DUK −$1.4B
NRG $1.4B
FY18
DUK −$2.2B
NRG $989M
FY19
DUK −$2.9B
NRG $1.2B
FY20
DUK −$1.1B
NRG $1.6B
FY21
DUK −$1.4B
NRG $224M
FY22
DUK −$5.4B
NRG −$7.0M
FY23
DUK −$2.7B
NRG −$819M
FY24
DUK $48.0M
NRG $1.8B
FY25
DUK −$1.7B
NRG $766M
DUK
NRG
Return on capital
FY16
DUK 4.2%
NRG 0.1%
FY17
DUK 4.3%
NRG −3.8%
FY18
DUK 4.1%
NRG 12.4%
FY19
DUK 4.7%
NRG 21.1%
FY20
DUK 4.1%
NRG 10.6%
FY21
DUK 4.4%
NRG 28.2%
FY22
DUK 4.6%
NRG 12.9%
FY23
DUK 5.0%
NRG 2.4%
FY24
DUK 5.3%
NRG 14.6%
FY25
DUK 5.5%
NRG 10.9%
DUK
NRG
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.