Marathon Oil (MRO) ended the recent trading session at $25.98, demonstrating a +0.35% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.75%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.58%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1%.

The energy company's stock has dropped by 6.37% in the past month, falling short of the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 4.12% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.03%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Marathon Oil in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.77, reflecting no change from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $1.79 billion, indicating a 1.21% downward movement from the same quarter last year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $2.76 per share and revenue of $6.81 billion, indicating changes of +5.75% and +1.63%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Marathon Oil. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.31% lower. Marathon Oil is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, Marathon Oil is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.38. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 15.04.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 151, positioning it in the bottom 41% 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.