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Marathon Oil (MRO) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Marathon Oil (MRO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $23.50, moving +0.9% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.37%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.32%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.18%.

Heading into today, shares of the energy company had gained 1.04% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 3.05% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.18% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Marathon Oil as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Marathon Oil to post earnings of $0.53 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 59.85%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.6 billion, down 30.73% from the year-ago period.

MRO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.57 per share and revenue of $6.74 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -42.63% and -16.19%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Marathon Oil. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 10.41% lower. Marathon Oil is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Marathon Oil is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.05. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.54, which means Marathon Oil is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that MRO currently has a PEG ratio of 0.46. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.9 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 169, which puts it in the bottom 33% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow MRO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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