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PetroChina (PTR) Flat As Market Sinks: What You Should Know

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PetroChina closed the most recent trading day at $50.02, making no change from the previous trading session. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 2.04%.

Heading into today, shares of the oil and gas company had gained 17.81% over the past month, outpacing the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 7.1% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.36% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from PTR as it approaches its next earnings report date.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.98 per share and revenue of $344.65 billion. These totals would mark changes of +381.38% and +22.78%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for PTR should also be noted by investors. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 remained stagnant within the past month. PTR is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, PTR is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.17. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 8.38, so we one might conclude that PTR is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that PTR currently has a PEG ratio of 0.15. 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 - International stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.53 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 30, which puts it in the top 12% 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.

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

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