In the latest close session, APA (APA) was down 1.45% at $18.29. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.52%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.63%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.48%.
The stock of oil and natural gas producer has risen by 9.11% in the past month, leading the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 3.92% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.27%.
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The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of APA in its upcoming release. On that day, APA is projected to report earnings of $0.58 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 50.43%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $2.02 billion, indicating a 27.57% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $3.01 per share and a revenue of $8.75 billion, indicating changes of -20.16% and -10.14%, respectively, from the former year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for APA should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.22% higher. APA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, APA currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.16. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 10.59.
One should further note that APA currently holds a PEG ratio of 5.87. 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. The Oil and Gas – Exploration and Production – United States was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.73 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 bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, finds itself in the bottom 36% echelons of all 250+ industries.
