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Exxon Mobil (XOM) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Exxon Mobil (XOM - Free Report) closed at $71.67 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.06% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.07% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.71%.

Heading into today, shares of the oil and natural gas company had lost 3.26% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 2.03% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.58% in that time.

XOM will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 1, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.22, up 38.64% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $74.09 billion, up 11.39% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for XOM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. 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. 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, 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 7.47% lower. XOM currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Digging into valuation, XOM currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.57. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.95, which means XOM is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that XOM has a PEG ratio of 1.96. 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. XOM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.14 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 251, which puts it in the bottom 2% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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