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APA (APA) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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APA (APA - Free Report) closed at $42.47 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.09% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.03% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.46%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 3.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the oil and natural gas producer had lost 6.24% over the past month, lagging the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 0.95% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.6% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from APA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 22, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.50, up 16.28% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.31 billion, up 0.53% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for APA. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 9.97% lower. APA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that APA has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.92 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 5.97, which means APA is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that APA has a PEG ratio of 0.18 right now. 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 - Exploration and Production - United States was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.22 at yesterday's closing price.

The Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 244, which puts it in the bottom 4% of all 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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