In the latest trading session, Halliburton (HAL) closed at $25.92, marking a -1.18% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.01%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.43%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.26%.

The provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators's stock has dropped by 1.58% in the past month, exceeding the Oils-Energy sector's loss of 4.3% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.26%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Halliburton in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.61, down 19.74% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.27 billion, down 9.27% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.64 per share and a revenue of $22.28 billion, representing changes of -11.71% and -2.88%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Halliburton. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. 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. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 2.59% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Halliburton currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Looking at valuation, Halliburton is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.95. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 14.17 of its industry.

One should further note that HAL currently holds a PEG ratio of 3.68. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the Oil and Gas - Field Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.56.

The Oil and Gas - Field Services industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, placing it within the bottom 32% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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Halliburton Company (HAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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