Duke Energy's fourth quarter profit jumps, but falls short of forecasts

NEW YORK -- Duke Energy's fourth-quarter profit surged as it cut costs, but the utility still fell short of expectations with an unusually warm winter driving down energy demand.

Profits for Duke's biggest business, regulated utilities, jumped 9 percent to $601 million, with higher prices partially offsetting the mild weather. The company operates in the South and the Midwest.

Overall net income rose five-fold boost to $477 million, or 69 cents per share, or 87 cents per share when adjusted for one-time items. That was well short of the 94 cents that Wall Street had projected,

Wall Street had projected profits of 94 cents per share, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.

The Charlotte, North Carolina, company reported a 4.3 percent drop in revenue to $4.97 billion in the period.

For the year, Duke posted profits of $2.82 billion, or $4.05 per share. Revenue was reported as $22.06 billion.

The company expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.50 to $4.70 per share. Analysts are projecting earnings of $4.66, according to FactSet.

Shares of Duke Energy Corp. have climbed almost 6 percent since the beginning of the year, but they've declined roughly 5 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:33 AM with the headline "Duke Energy's fourth quarter profit jumps, but falls short of forecasts ."