Munger Mode rating: 2 out of 5 — Sell. Our own rating from the research report below, on business quality first: moat durability and management, with price separating the top three.
We have spent our lives looking for wonderful businesses, and we have also spent a fair amount of time owning regulated utilities. So let us be precise about what Duke Energy is: it is a good business, run by decent people, that can never be a wonderful business. The regulatory compact that gives Duke its monopoly also confiscates its upside. It earns a state-administered 9–10% return on equity, it consumes every dollar it generates and then borrows billions more, it carries roughly $91 billion of debt against $55 billion of shareholder equity, and it has now begun selling pieces of its best utility to fund a capital program it cannot finance from its own earnings. The current AI data-center enthusiasm has pushed the stock to about 18x forward earnings — a premium multiple for a business whose growth is largely rented from bondholders and minority partners.
Recent filings analysed: 8-K (2026-08-05), 8-K (2026-08-04), 10-Q (2026-08-04), 8-K (2026-07-17).
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