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Marathon Oil (MRO) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Marathon Oil (MRO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $22.54, moving -1.57% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.79%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.07%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.71%.

Heading into today, shares of the energy company had lost 5.8% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 1.6% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.16% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Marathon Oil as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Marathon Oil to post earnings of $0.49 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 62.88%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.59 billion, down 31% from the year-ago period.

MRO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.49 per share and revenue of $6.71 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -44.42% and -16.53%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Marathon Oil. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.86% lower. Marathon Oil is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Marathon Oil's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.2. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.16, so we one might conclude that Marathon Oil is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that MRO has a PEG ratio of 0.47 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.58 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 110, which puts it in the top 44% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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