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Marathon Petroleum (MPC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) closed at $63.74, marking a -0.69% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.33% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.44%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.01%.

Coming into today, shares of the refiner had lost 4.54% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 4.35%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.89%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from MPC as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 7, 2019. On that day, MPC is projected to report earnings of $1.18 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.38%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $29.23 billion, up 37.63% from the year-ago period.

MPC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.06 per share and revenue of $90.40 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +33.16% and +19.94%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MPC. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.42% lower within the past month. MPC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, MPC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.68. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.87, so we one might conclude that MPC is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that MPC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.89. 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. Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.98 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 177, which puts it in the bottom 31% 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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