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

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Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) closed at $59.84 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.37% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.15%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.24%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the refiner had lost 1.86% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 4.51% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.88% in that time.

MPC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2020. On that day, MPC is projected to report earnings of $1 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 58.51%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $29.60 billion, down 9.05% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MPC. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.89% lower within the past month. MPC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, MPC is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 7.99. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.26, which means MPC is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, MPC's PEG ratio is currently 0.71. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.56 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 221, putting it in the bottom 14% 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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