In the latest trading session, Marathon Petroleum (MPC) closed at $174.50, marking a -1.3% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.16% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.47%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.81%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the refiner had lost 11.43% lagged the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 3.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.03%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Marathon Petroleum in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $3.98, indicating a 416.88% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $30.58 billion, indicating a 8.62% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.85 per share and revenue of $132.48 billion, which would represent changes of +14.09% and -5.65%, respectively, from the prior year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Marathon Petroleum. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.73% higher within the past month. Marathon Petroleum currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Marathon Petroleum is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 16.3. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 13.77 for its industry.
It is also worth noting that MPC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.91. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.15.
The Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, finds itself in the top 37% echelons 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.
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Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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