BP (BP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, BP (BP) closed at $38.96, marking a +0.33% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.67%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.74%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.81%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil and gas company had gained 6.21% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 5.86%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.55%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from BP as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect BP to post earnings of $0.66 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 36.54%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $76.29 billion, down 0.77% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for BP. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.09% higher. BP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, BP is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.74. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.46, so we one might conclude that BP is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that BP currently has a PEG ratio of 1.34. 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. Oil and Gas - Integrated - International stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.03 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 199, which puts it in the bottom 22% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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