Occidental Petroleum (OXY Quick QuoteOXY - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $51.09, moving -2.18% from the previous trading session. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.1% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.35%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.43%.

Heading into today, shares of the oil and gas exploration and production company had lost 9.1% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 7.58% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.34%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Occidental Petroleum in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to post earnings of $1.89 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 384.62%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.23 billion, up 11.96% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.79 per share and revenue of $26.35 billion, which would represent changes of +161.99% and +3.56%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Occidental Petroleum. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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 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. Over the past month, there's been a 8.52% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. At present, Occidental Petroleum boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Occidental Petroleum has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.02 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 18.61.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 179, finds itself in the bottom 27% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.