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APA (APA) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, APA (APA - Free Report) closed at $34.35, marking a -1.97% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.65%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.63%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 6.65%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the oil and natural gas producer had lost 7.93% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 4.55% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.3% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from APA as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.14, down 40.63% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2 billion, down 25.1% from the year-ago period.

APA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.35 per share and revenue of $8.99 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -17.32% and -18.02%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for APA should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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 has moved 10.37% lower within the past month. APA currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, APA is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.52. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 5.57, so we one might conclude that APA is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that APA has a PEG ratio of 0.22. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. APA's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.3 as of yesterday's close.

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 223, which puts it in the bottom 12% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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