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Are Oils-Energy Stocks Lagging Marathon Petroleum (MPC) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Oils-Energy stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Marathon Petroleum is one of 250 companies in the Oils-Energy group. The Oils-Energy group currently sits at #3 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Marathon Petroleum is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MPC's full-year earnings has moved 22% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that MPC has returned about 88.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Oils-Energy sector has returned an average of 43.1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Marathon Petroleum is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Oils-Energy sector, Murphy USA (MUSA - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 46.5%.

In Murphy USA's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 18.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Marathon Petroleum belongs to the Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry, a group that includes 16 individual companies and currently sits at #6 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 45.5% so far this year, so MPC is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Murphy USA is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Oils-Energy stocks should continue to track Marathon Petroleum and Murphy USA. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.


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