Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) closed at $43 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.15% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.38% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.44%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.67%.
Heading into today, shares of the oil and gas exploration and production company had lost 1.8% over the past month, outpacing the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 7.5% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 1.91% in that time.
OXY will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 27, 2020. In that report, analysts expect OXY to post earnings of -$0.06 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 104.92%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.51 billion, up 35.65% from the prior-year quarter.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for OXY should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 27.9% lower. OXY currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, OXY is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 36.51. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.46.
Also, we should mention that OXY has a PEG ratio of 7.3. 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 industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.96 as of yesterday's close.
The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, putting it in the top 35% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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