BP (BP) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, BP (BP) closed at $38.71, marking a -0.28% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.19%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.31%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.08%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the oil and gas company had gained 3.27% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 4.35% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.72% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from BP as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, BP is projected to report earnings of $0.64 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 38.46%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $76.29 billion, down 0.77% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for BP. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.06% higher within the past month. BP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, BP is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.94. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.48, which means BP is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that BP currently has a PEG ratio of 1.36. 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 - Integrated - International industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.96 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 178, which puts it in the bottom 31% 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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