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Marathon Petroleum (MPC) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

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Marathon Petroleum (MPC - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $162.18, demonstrating a -0.45% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.02%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 1.09%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.18%.

The refiner's shares have seen a decrease of 6.61% over the last month, surpassing the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 11.98% and falling behind the S&P 500's gain of 4.44%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Marathon Petroleum in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on August 6, 2024. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $5.67, marking a 6.58% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $31.85 billion, down 13.51% from the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $16.13 per share and a revenue of $129.29 billion, representing changes of -31.74% and -13.99%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Marathon Petroleum. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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 12.44% lower. Marathon Petroleum is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, Marathon Petroleum is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.1. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 12.51.

It's also important to note that MPC currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.68. 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. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.7.

The Oil and Gas - Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 200, positioning it in the bottom 21% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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