Ecopetrol (EC) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Ecopetrol (EC) closed at $9.92, marking a +1.85% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.15% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.71%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.13%.
Coming into today, shares of the oil and natural gas exploration company had lost 17.25% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 2.96%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.44%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Ecopetrol as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Ecopetrol is projected to report earnings of $0.85 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 73.47%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.7 billion, up 65.17% from the year-ago period.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Ecopetrol should also be noted by investors. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 7.32% lower. Ecopetrol currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Ecopetrol is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 2.96. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 2.96.
Meanwhile, EC's PEG ratio is currently 0.05. 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. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - Emerging Markets industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.34 as of yesterday's close.
The Oil and Gas - Integrated - Emerging Markets industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 14, putting it in the top 6% 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.
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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