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APA (APA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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APA (APA - Free Report) closed at $36.93 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.71% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.66%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.08%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the oil and natural gas producer had gained 10.39% over the past month. This has outpaced the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 4.6% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.79% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from APA as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect APA to post earnings of $2.54 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 159.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.76 billion, up 67.34% from the prior-year quarter.

APA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.72 per share and revenue of $11.21 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +149.23% and +43.33%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for APA 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.91% higher within the past month. APA currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, APA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 3.77. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 4.98.

Meanwhile, APA's PEG ratio is currently 0.14. 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 - Exploration and Production - United States stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.23 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 66, which puts it in the top 27% 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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