Ecopetrol (EC) closed at $8.06 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.62% move from the prior day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.63%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.21%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.52%.
Shares of the oil and natural gas exploration company have depreciated by 23.71% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 11.18% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.7%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Ecopetrol in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on May 6, 2025. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.39, reflecting a 22% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.77 billion, down 2.64% from the prior-year quarter.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Ecopetrol. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 8.72% lower within the past month. Ecopetrol is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.
Investors should also note Ecopetrol's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 4.69. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 8.77, so one might conclude that Ecopetrol is trading at a discount comparatively.
The Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 183, positioning it in the bottom 26% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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