DUK vs SO vs TLN Stock Comparison

Duke Energy, Southern and Talen Energy Prices as of Nov 3, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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DUK Duke Energy CORP
$126.51 +10.8% 1M +2.3% 1Y
Market cap
$101.09B
P/E
19.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$33.25B
Div. yield
0.03%
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
7 wins
SO Southern Co
$93.75 +12.0% 1M +0.6% 1Y
Market cap
$105.91B
P/E
22.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$30.18B
Div. yield
0.03%
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
3 wins
TLN Talen Energy Corp
$357.28 +11.4% 1M -13.6% 1Y
Market cap
$14.98B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$3.44B
Div. yield
–
Independent Power Producers Utilities
2 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Duke Energy leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Duke Energy 7, Southern 3, Talen Energy 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionDUKSOTLNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $101.09B $105.91B $14.98B SO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 19.5x 22.7x -81.0x DUK
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.3x 19.4x 17.8x TLN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.3% +6.4% +60.8% TLN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 15.6% 15.4% -5.4% DUK
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 5.4% 4.8% 0.9% DUK
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 5.3x 5.3x 19.3x SO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.03% 0.03% 0.00% DUK
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +2.3% +0.6% -13.6% DUK
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +4.6%/yr +8.5%/yr — SO
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 16.7% 17.9% 57.4% DUK
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 52/100 46/100 44/100 DUK

Percentile Scorecard

DUKSOTLN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisDUKSOTLN
Valuation 65 #24 of 67 44 #38 of 67 26 #18 of 24
Growth 70 #20 of 65 50 #33 of 65 59 #10 of 23
Profitability 77 #16 of 65 70 #20 of 65 41 #14 of 23
Financial Health 23 #51 of 66 54 #31 of 66 9 #22 of 24
Shareholder Returns 26 #50 of 67 11 #60 of 67 83 #4 of 19
Overall 52 46 44
  • DUK ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities
  • SO ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities
  • TLN ranked among 24 companies in Power Generation

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodDUKSOTLNSPY
1 month +10.8%+12.0%+11.4% -2.0%
3 months +1.8%+0.5%+5.1% -2.2%
6 months -0.8%-2.2%-7.2% +4.2%
Year to date +7.9%+7.5%-4.7% +10.6%
1 year +2.3%+0.6%-13.6% +10.4%
3 years +40.1%+33.2%+575.1% +73.6%
3 years, per year +11.9%+10.0%+89.1% +20.2%
5 years +25.2%+50.0%— +61.6%
5 years, per year +4.6%+8.5%— +10.1%
10 years +62.2%+86.0%— +261.3%
10 years, per year +5.0%+6.4%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureDUKSOTLNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 16.7%17.9%57.4% 12.8%
Downside volatility, 1Y 17.0%17.5%61.6% 12.8%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y -0.33-0.232.04 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.140.04-0.24 0.81
Max drawdown, 5Y -26.0%-23.3%-35.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.2%-5.4%-18.5% -3.2%
52-week high $133.46$99.11$438.12 $779.14
52-week low $113.24$82.35$286.52 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleDUKSOTLN
P/E now vs peer median 19.0xmedian 20.6x 22.9xmedian 20.6x -88.7xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 3.0xmedian 2.9x 3.6xmedian 2.9x 5.0xmedian 2.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 11.1xmedian 12.7x 13.2xmedian 12.7x 54.8xmedian 11.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median -23.1xmedian 32.2x -33.0xmedian 32.2x 30.1xmedian 13.2x
P/B now vs peer median 1.7xmedian 1.8x 1.9xmedian 1.8x 10.4xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median 0.32median 2.00 1.05median 2.00 —median 0.76

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsDUKSOTLN
Revenue $33.25B $30.18B $3.44B
Gross profit $24.76B $25.14B –
Operating income $9.23B $7.31B $88.00M
Net income $5.38B $4.66B -$185.00M
Free cash flow -$4.27B -$3.27B $568.00M
EPS (diluted) $6.66 $4.08 $-4.03
Cash & equivalents $673.00M $2.98B $231.00M
Total debt $91.24B $75.58B $9.57B
Shares (diluted) 779.00M 1.14B 45.90M
Enterprise value $97.35B $96.97B $12.54B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricDUKSOTLN
P/E 19.0x 22.9x -88.7x
P/FCF -23.1x -33.0x 30.1x
P/Operating cash flow 8.5x 10.1x 21.5x
P/S 3.0x 3.6x 5.0x
P/B 1.7x 1.9x 10.4x
P/Tangible book 1.7x 1.9x 10.4x
EV/EBITDA 11.1x 13.2x 54.8x
EV/EBIT 20.5x 24.7x 300.6x
EV/Revenue 5.7x 6.0x 7.7x
EV/FCF -44.3x -55.2x 46.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 16.4x 16.9x 33.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.32 1.05 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricDUKSOTLN
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.3% 6.4% 60.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.6% 3.0% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 9.7% 5.3% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 8.2% 1.6% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 9.5% 1.5% -34.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.2% 14.7% –
Net income growth (1Y) 8.7% 8.7% -206.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 59.0% 16.2% –
EPS growth (1Y) 8.9% 5.6% -203.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 59.6% 21.8% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -3.2% 15.5% 1,121%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 26.8% 23.7% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -659.1% -152.2% 422.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.5% -3.1% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricDUKSOTLN
Gross margin 74.5% 83.3% –
EBITDA margin 51.0% 45.2% 14.1%
Operating margin 27.8% 24.2% 2.6%
Pretax margin 18.6% 17.4% -3.6%
Net margin 15.6% 15.4% -5.4%
FCF margin -12.9% -10.8% 16.5%
Operating cash flow margin 34.8% 35.3% 23.2%
Return on equity 9.5% 8.0% -13.6%
Return on assets 2.7% 2.9% -1.4%
Return on invested capital 5.4% 4.8% 0.9%
Return on capital employed 5.1% 5.1% 0.8%
Asset turnover 0.2x 0.2x 0.3x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.1x 2.3x -4.3x
Stock comp / revenue – – 2.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricDUKSOTLN
Debt / assets 45.4% 46.6% 63.5%
Debt / equity 1.6x 1.3x 5.8x
Net debt / EBITDA 5.3x 5.3x 19.3x
Debt / FCF -21.3x -23.1x 16.9x
Liabilities / assets 71.7% 64.3% 89.1%
Equity / assets 28.3% 35.7% 10.9%
Interest coverage 2.4x 2.3x 0.2x
Current ratio 0.7x 0.8x 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.3x 0.4x 0.4x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 0.73 – 0.90

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricDUKSOTLN
Dividend yield 3.4% 3.2% –
Net buyback yield – – 1.7%
Shareholder yield 3.4% 3.2% 1.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) 62.9% 66.6% –
Payout ratio (FCF) -79.2% -94.8% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 4.6% 4.7% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 1.8% 1.2% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusDUKSOTLN
Forward P/E 19.3xFY2026 19.4xFY2026 17.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $6.56FY2026 $4.84FY2026 $20.11FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +4.0%FY2026 +12.6%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +15.4% -3.1% +60.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year $32.42BFY2026 $31.54BFY2026 $4.61BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +0.6%FY2026 +6.7%FY2026 +78.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +4.1% +8.8% +4.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersDUKSOTLN
Held by institutions 69.6% 72.5% 100.0%
Institutions holding 2,462 2,366 639
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.5% +5.7% +5.4%
Institutions buying 1,300 1,249 380
Institutions selling 802 726 191
Buyers to sellers 1.62 1.72 1.99

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

DUKSOTLN
DUK 1.00 0.87 -0.09
SO 0.87 1.00 -0.01
TLN -0.09 -0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, DUK, SO and TLN?

Southern (SO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Duke Energy (DUK) $101.09B, Southern (SO) $105.91B, Talen Energy (TLN) $14.98B.

Which stock is cheaper, DUK, SO and TLN?

Duke Energy (DUK) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Duke Energy (DUK) 19.5x, Southern (SO) 22.7x, Talen Energy (TLN) -81.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Talen Energy (TLN) is cheapest (Duke Energy (DUK) 19.3x, Southern (SO) 19.4x, Talen Energy (TLN) 17.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Talen Energy (TLN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Duke Energy (DUK) +6.3%, Southern (SO) +6.4%, Talen Energy (TLN) +60.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Duke Energy (DUK) has the highest net margin (Duke Energy (DUK) 15.6%, Southern (SO) 15.4%, Talen Energy (TLN) -5.4%). On return on invested capital, Duke Energy (DUK) leads (Duke Energy (DUK) 5.4%, Southern (SO) 4.8%, Talen Energy (TLN) 0.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Duke Energy (DUK) returned the most: Duke Energy (DUK) +2.3%, Southern (SO) +0.6%, Talen Energy (TLN) -13.6%. Over five years, Southern (SO) compounded fastest (Duke Energy (DUK) +4.6%/yr, Southern (SO) +8.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Duke Energy (DUK) has the highest dividend yield: Duke Energy (DUK) 0.03%, Southern (SO) 0.03%, Talen Energy (TLN) 0.00%. Talen Energy (TLN) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Duke Energy (DUK) has been the steadiest (Duke Energy (DUK) 16.7%, Southern (SO) 17.9%, Talen Energy (TLN) 57.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, DUK, SO and TLN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Duke Energy (DUK) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.