Are Oils-Energy Stocks Lagging Marathon Petroleum (MPC) This Year?

MPC NXT

The Oils-Energy group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Oils-Energy sector should help us answer this question.

Marathon Petroleum is a member of our Oils-Energy group, which includes 251 different companies and currently sits at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Marathon Petroleum is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MPC's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that MPC has returned about 37.8% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Oils-Energy group have gained about 8.6% on average. This shows that Marathon Petroleum is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Oils-Energy sector, Nextracker (NXT - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 20%.

For Nextracker, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 23.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Marathon Petroleum belongs to the Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry, which includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 10.3% this year, meaning that MPC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Nextracker belongs to the Solar industry. This 18-stock industry is currently ranked #166. The industry has moved -11.2% year to date.

Marathon Petroleum and Nextracker could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Oils-Energy stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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