Duke Energy(DUK) ZACKS·2025-04-04 14:35Group 1 - Duke Energy has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.90, indicating a consensus between Strong Buy and Buy, based on recommendations from 20 brokerage firms, with 11 of those being Strong Buy, representing 55% of all recommendations [2][4] - Despite the positive ABR, reliance solely on this information for investment decisions may not be prudent, as studies indicate limited success of brokerage recommendations in identifying stocks with the best price increase potential [4][9] - Analysts from brokerage firms tend to exhibit a strong positive bias in their ratings due to vested interests, leading to a disproportionate number of favorable ratings compared to negative ones [5][9] Group 2 - The Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock rating tool, categorizes stocks from Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank 5 (Strong Sell) and is based on earnings estimate revisions, which have shown a strong correlation with near-term stock price movements [7][10] - The Zacks Rank is distinct from the ABR, as it is a quantitative model that reflects timely earnings estimate revisions, while the ABR may not always be up-to-date [8][11] - For Duke Energy, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has decreased by 0.1% to $6.32, indicating growing pessimism among analysts regarding the company's earnings prospects, which has resulted in a Zacks Rank 4 (Sell) [12][13]