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Occidental Petroleum (OXY) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Occidental Petroleum (OXY - Free Report) closed at $56.09, marking a +0.57% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.95% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.64%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.23%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil and gas exploration and production company had lost 16% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 7.59%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.49%.

Occidental Petroleum will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Occidental Petroleum to post earnings of $2.88 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 800%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.64 billion, up 60.32% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.36 per share and revenue of $38 billion. These totals would mark changes of +306.27% and +44.41%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Occidental Petroleum. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.86% higher. Occidental Petroleum is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Occidental Petroleum is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 5.39. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.07.

Investors should also note that OXY has a PEG ratio of 0.17 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.32 at yesterday's closing price.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 110, putting it in the top 44% 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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