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LyondellBasell (LYB) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, LyondellBasell (LYB - Free Report) closed at $78.03, marking a +1.14% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.69%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.64%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.2%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil refiner and chemical company had lost 13.57% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 8.82%, while the S&P 500 lost 9.94%.

LyondellBasell will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.93, down 25.14% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $13.73 billion, up 8.14% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $15.90 per share and revenue of $54.38 billion. These totals would mark changes of -12.59% and +17.77%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for LyondellBasell. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.76% lower. LyondellBasell currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, LyondellBasell is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.85. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.33, which means LyondellBasell is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that LYB has a PEG ratio of 0.61 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Chemical - Diversified stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.23 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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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