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Murphy Oil (MUR) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Murphy Oil (MUR - Free Report) closed at $34.18, marking a +1.61% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.45%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 2.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.17%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the oil and gas producer had lost 8.76% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 9.07% and lagged the S&P 500's loss of 5.71% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Murphy Oil as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Murphy Oil to post earnings of $1.50 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 154.24%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $810.31 million, up 47.43% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.75 per share and revenue of $3.3 billion, which would represent changes of +345.74% and +43.54%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Murphy Oil. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 10.53% higher. Murphy Oil is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Murphy Oil's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 5.85. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 4.65, so we one might conclude that Murphy Oil is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 45, putting it in the top 18% 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.

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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