The most recent trading session ended with Ecopetrol (EC) standing at $8.10, reflecting a +0.87% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.03%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.61%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 0.56%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the oil and natural gas exploration company had lost 8.33% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 10.96% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 1.39% in that time.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Ecopetrol in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.64, up 4.92% from the prior-year quarter. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $8.02 billion, indicating a 7.53% downward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $2 per share and a revenue of $32.27 billion, signifying shifts of -15.97% and -2.74%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Ecopetrol. 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. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 16.88% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Ecopetrol presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Ecopetrol is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.03. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 4.87.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - Emerging Markets industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, finds itself in the top 41% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.