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Halliburton (HAL) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Halliburton (HAL - Free Report) closed at $30.82, marking a +0.78% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.73%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.77%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 7.92%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators had lost 8.03% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 3.58% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.5% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Halliburton as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.75, up 53.06% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.85 billion, up 15.22% from the year-ago period.

HAL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.13 per share and revenue of $23.83 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +45.58% and +17.38%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Halliburton. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. 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 2.54% higher. Halliburton is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Halliburton's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.76. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.87, so we one might conclude that Halliburton is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that HAL currently has a PEG ratio of 0.39. 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. The Oil and Gas - Field Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.64 at yesterday's closing price.

The Oil and Gas - Field Services industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 213, putting it in the bottom 16% 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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