Topic: How To Invest

I would like your opinion on two U.S. utility stocks: Duke Energy and Exelon Corp. Thanks in advance.

Article Excerpt

Duke Energy, $20.70, symbol DUK on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $26.9 billion; www.duke-energy.com), is a holding company with utilities that together have 4.0 million electricity customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, and over 500,000 gas customers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The company’s electricity revenue breaks down as follows: residential, 44%; commercial, 31%; industrial, 18%; and other, 7%. Coal-fired plants account for 56% of its generation, and 33% comes from nuclear. The company purchases 9% of its electricity. Duke is now buying Progress Energy for $14 billion. Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Progress has more than 22,000 megawatts of generation capacity. The company has two electric utilities that serve over 3 million customers in Florida and the Carolinas. The purchase will make Duke the largest utility in the U.S., with about 7 million customers. Big acquisitions always involve risk, but the adding Progress will result in significant cost savings for Duke. Duke trades at 14.3 times next…