Duke Energy narrows its outlook as quarterly profit rises
The utility reports higher earnings while carrying out a large generation-building plan.
Duke Energy narrowed its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to $6.70 to $6.80 per share after reporting higher third-quarter profit, and said it expects to finish near the top of that range.
Reported earnings and adjusted earnings were $1.99 per share, compared with $1.81 a year earlier. Revenue rose to $9.104 billion from $8.542 billion.
The company attributed the earnings improvement to recovery of infrastructure investment and favorable weather. Higher depreciation, interest expense and taxes partly offset those gains.
Its electric utilities and infrastructure business produced $1.817 billion in quarterly segment income, up from $1.658 billion. The gas utilities business reported a $19 million loss, smaller than the prior year's $26 million loss.
Duke reaffirmed its long-term adjusted earnings growth target of 5% to 7% through 2030. That target and the annual outlook are company forecasts, not completed results, and management does not provide a matching forecast for reported GAAP earnings.
The utility is working toward adding 16 gigawatts of generation capacity by 2031. The plan connects its earnings outlook to the practical work of building and financing more power supply; it is not a guarantee that every proposed project will be approved or completed on schedule.
