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

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Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $54.83, moving -1.17% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.02%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.17%.

Coming into today, shares of the refiner had gained 15.82% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 5.41%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.82%.

MPC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 1, 2019. In that report, analysts expect MPC to post earnings of $1.44 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 36.56%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $30.82 billion, up 37.33% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.39 per share and revenue of $115.47 billion. These totals would mark changes of -35.25% and +18.92%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MPC. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

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 6.02% lower. MPC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MPC's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 12.64. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.97, which means MPC is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that MPC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.47. 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. Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.98 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 22, which puts it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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