Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $59.14, moving +1.58% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.28% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.42%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.03%.

Coming into today, shares of the refiner had lost 0.36% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 7.72%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.31%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MPC as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 29, 2020. On that day, MPC is projected to report earnings of $1.10 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 54.36%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $29.80 billion, down 8.43% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MPC. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.76% higher. MPC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MPC has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.62 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.94.

We can also see that MPC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.63. 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 1.57 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 161, which puts it in the bottom 37% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) - free report >>

Published in