SM Energy (SM) ended the recent trading session at $25.04, demonstrating a -2.26% change from the preceding day's closing price. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.11%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 1.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.43%.
Heading into today, shares of the independent oil and gas company had gained 10.57% over the past month, outpacing the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 5.39% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.92%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of SM Energy in its upcoming release. On that day, SM Energy is projected to report earnings of $1.24 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 32.97%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $777.04 million, indicating a 22.46% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $5.67 per share and revenue of $3.24 billion, indicating changes of -16.62% and +20.58%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for SM Energy. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.28% higher. At present, SM Energy boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SM Energy has a Forward P/E ratio of 4.52 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.54, which means SM Energy is trading at a discount to the group.
The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 157, placing it within the bottom 37% of over 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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SM Energy Company (SM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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