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SM Energy (SM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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SM Energy (SM - Free Report) closed at $35.10 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.83% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.81% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.47%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the independent oil and gas company had lost 0.03% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 9.18% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 1.84% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SM Energy as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.82, up 4000% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $580.44 million, up 81.22% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for SM Energy should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 13.59% higher. SM Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SM Energy has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.49 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 5.77, 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. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 52, putting it in the top 21% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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