This story originally appeared on Zacks

Murphy USA (MUSA) closed at $194.91 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.7% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.41%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.13%.

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the gasoline station operator had gained 7.52% over the past month. This has outpaced the Oils-Energy sector’s gain of 4.81% and the S&P 500’s gain of 2.36% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Murphy USA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 2, 2022. On that day, Murphy USA is projected to report earnings of $2.36 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.26%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.61 billion, up 61% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Murphy USA should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 6.97% higher within the past month. Murphy USA currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Murphy USA has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.43 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.21, which means Murphy USA is trading at a premium to the group.

The Oil and Gas – Refining and Marketing industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 76, which puts it in the top 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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