Marathon Oil (MRO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

MRO

In the latest trading session, Marathon Oil (MRO - Free Report) closed at $23.02, marking a +0.39% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.23% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.84%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.24%.

Heading into today, shares of the energy company had gained 2.05% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 3.61% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.67% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Marathon Oil as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.49, down 62.88% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.59 billion, down 31% from the prior-year quarter.

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 should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Marathon Oil. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 6.86% lower within the past month. Marathon Oil is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Marathon Oil is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.21. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.02, so we one might conclude that Marathon Oil is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that MRO currently has a PEG ratio of 0.47. 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. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.91 at yesterday's closing price.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 112, which puts it in the top 45% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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