Marathon Oil (MRO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Marathon Oil (MRO) closed at $12.85, marking a +0.94% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.15%.

Coming into today, shares of the energy company had gained 10.5% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 7.33%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.58%.

MRO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, MRO is projected to report earnings of $0.30 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 207.14%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.33 billion, up 75.84% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.01 per share and revenue of $4.89 billion. These totals would mark changes of +187.07% and +58.45%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MRO 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. 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.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.72% lower. MRO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MRO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 12.6. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.51.

We can also see that MRO currently has a PEG ratio of 0.39. 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. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.12 at yesterday's closing price.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 112, which puts it in the top 45% 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.

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

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