--- title: "Duke Energy: Risk & Monitoring Guide" description: "Duke Energy financial risk indicators from its SEC filings (leverage, liquidity, interest coverage, debt load) compared with peers, with filings linked." canonical: https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/risks/ source: "Swoopr Investment: https://www.getswoopr.com" --- # Duke Energy: Risk & Monitoring Guide ## Direct Answer Duke Energy's fiscal 2025 filings show current liabilities exceed current assets (current ratio 0.6x); operating income covers interest expense only 2.4x. These figures measure financial risk only; the business risks Duke Energy itself considers material are listed under Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its Form 10-K, most recently filed February 26, 2026. ## What Do Duke Energy's Financial Risk Indicators Show? | Indicator (fiscal 2025) | Duke Energy | Peer median (same SIC code) | What it measures | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Liabilities to assets | n/a | 53% | How much of the balance sheet is funded by obligations rather than equity. | | Current ratio | 0.6x | 0.8x | Short-term assets per dollar of obligations due within a year. | | Interest coverage | 2.4x | 2.4x | Operating income per dollar of interest expense. | | Long-term debt to operating cash flow | 6.5x | 6.6x | Years of operating cash flow it would take to repay long-term debt. | | Net debt | $79.9 billion | n/a | Long-term debt minus cash; negative means more cash than long-term debt. | The peer median uses 14 other companies in Swoopr's S&P 500 Equal Weight set that share the same SEC SIC code. A reading worse than the peer median is a prompt to read the filing, not a conclusion. ![Bar chart of Duke Energy balance sheet at the end of fiscal 2025: total assets $196 billion, shareholders' equity $51.8 billion, long-term debt $80.1 billion, cash and equivalents $245 million.](https://www.getswoopr.com/images/charts/duke-energy-risks-balance-sheet.webp) *Duke Energy balance sheet items at the end of fiscal 2025, from the figures in the table above. Long-term debt is highlighted. Select the chart to open it full size.* ## Where Are Duke Energy's Official Risk Factors? The risks Duke Energy considers material are disclosed in Item 1A of its Form 10-K, most recently [filed February 26, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326160/000132616026000014/duk-20251231.htm). Read them with three questions in mind: which risks are specific to this company rather than generic, which have changed since the prior year's filing, and which connect to the figures above (a refinancing risk matters more when interest coverage is thin). ## Where These Numbers Come From Every figure on this page is a value Duke Energy reported in its own SEC filings, read from the SEC's XBRL data (accession 0001326160-26-000014 for fiscal year 2025). Ratios are computed from those reported values. Figures were retrieved on October 7, 2026; a later amendment or a new annual report can change them, and the filing itself always takes precedence over this summary. Each fiscal year is labeled by the calendar year in which it ended, so a company that names the same period differently in its own filings (many retailers whose year ends in January) may use another label. A year is left out of the table when the SEC data set holds no value for it. A figure shown as "Not reported" means the company did not file a value under the standard tag Swoopr reads, not that the amount was zero. This page is educational and describes reported history only; it is not a forecast or a recommendation. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Is Duke Energy highly leveraged? Duke Energy did not report both total liabilities and total assets under the standard tags, so the ratio is not computed here. ### Where are Duke Energy's official risk factors? In Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its annual report on Form 10-K, most recently filed with the SEC on February 26, 2026. The company lists the risks it considers material there; the measures on this page only quantify the financial side. ### Can Duke Energy pay its interest? In fiscal 2025, operating income covered interest expense 2.4x. Coverage below about 3x leaves little room if earnings fall. ## References - [SEC EDGAR: Duke Energy CORP Form 10-K filed February 26, 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326160/000132616026000014/duk-20251231.htm) - [SEC EDGAR: Duke Energy CORP annual and quarterly filings](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=1326160&type=10-K) - [SEC: EDGAR application programming interfaces (XBRL frames and submissions data)](https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/edgar-application-programming-interfaces) ## Related Pages - [Duke Energy company dossier](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/) - [Duke Energy financial metrics](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/metrics/) - [Duke Energy financial risk indicators](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/risks/) - [Duke Energy peer comparison](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/competitors/) - [Duke Energy business model and revenue mix](https://www.getswoopr.com/stocks/companies/duke-energy/business-model/) - [Fundamental analysis guides](https://www.getswoopr.com/learn/fundamental-analysis/) **[Swoopr Editorial Team](https://www.getswoopr.com/authors/swoopr-editorial-team/)** Swoopr's editorial team produces independent investment education content reviewed for accuracy and clarity. We do not provide personalized financial advice. See our [editorial policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/editorial-policy/) and [corrections policy](https://www.getswoopr.com/legal/corrections-policy/).