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Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ - Free Report) closed at $50.83 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.22% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.76%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.17%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 3.03%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil and natural gas company had lost 14.66% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 12.2%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.94%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Canadian Natural Resources as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.76, down 22.12% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.36 billion, down 12.66% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.34 per share and revenue of $26.19 billion. These totals would mark changes of -26.36% and -19.61%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Canadian Natural Resources should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.43% lower. Canadian Natural Resources is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Canadian Natural Resources is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 8. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 5.08.

Also, we should mention that CNQ has a PEG ratio of 0.65. 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. CNQ's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.42 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - Canadian industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 194, putting it in the bottom 24% 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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