Hess (HES) Stock Jumps 3.4%: Will It Continue to Soar?

Hess (HES) shares ended the last trading session 3.4% higher at $120.79. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 20% loss over the past four weeks.

Hess is well poised to deliver long-term return, banking on its highly profitable and differentiated portfolio. HES has decided to return up to 75% of annual free cash flow to shareholders through share repurchases and dividend hikes. Also, oil prices are still favorable to aid the company’s overall upstream business.

This oil and gas producer is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.42 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +9.2%. Revenues are expected to be $2.47 billion, up 4.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For Hess, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 17.6% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. And a negative trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't usually translate into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on HES going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Hess is part of the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - United States industry. Marathon Oil (MRO), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 3.5% higher at $22.01. MRO has returned -18.5% in the past month.

For Marathon Oil , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -12.3% over the past month to $0.73. This represents a change of -28.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Marathon Oil currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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