In the latest trading session, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) closed at $58.88, marking a -0.37% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.88% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.82%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.08%.

Coming into today, shares of the oil and gas exploration and production company had lost 16.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 14.09%, while the S&P 500 lost 8.06%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Occidental Petroleum as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Occidental Petroleum is projected to report earnings of $2.88 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 800%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.64 billion, up 60.32% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.36 per share and revenue of $37.13 billion, which would represent changes of +306.27% and +41.09%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Occidental Petroleum should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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 4.35% higher within the past month. Occidental Petroleum is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Occidental Petroleum is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.71. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.17, so we one might conclude that Occidental Petroleum is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, OXY's PEG ratio is currently 0.18. 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 - Integrated - United States industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.32 as of yesterday's close.

The Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 42% 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.

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

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