EQT (EQT) is trying to break out of a flat base, one of the few high-liquidity stocks making 52-week highs the past week.
The stock briefly topped the 48.02 buy point in active trading. But shares sank back into the base. EQT's MarketSurge chart shows a blue dot on the relative strength line, a sign that the stock is leading the market just as it trades near a buy point.
↑ XEQT is the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. and a major fracking producer. Its operations are mainly in the Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia sections of the Appalachian Basin.
Hobbled by persistently weak natural gas prices, EQT's sales and earnings performance has fluctuated widely. In the third quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of 12 cents a share, a drop of 60% from 30 cents a year ago.
But analysts' consensus estimate for 2025 earnings is $2.86 a share, more than double the expected $1.38 for the full 2024, according to MarketSurge.
With oil prices rising to the highest level since October, a few other energy stocks made 52-week highs last week in IBD's table, which excludes companies with EPS Ratings below 60.
Gulfport Energy (GPOR) was another energy stock that made a new high Friday. The stock remains in buy range from the 183.59 buy point of a flat base.
Because the base formed immediately above a prior 28-week base, this can be called a base-on-base formation. The relative strength line is almost at new highs as well, which is a positive sign for the breakout.
Gulfport has improved to become the No. 3 company in IBD's U.S. oil & gas exploration and production industry group, where there are 52 stocks.
Although the company's EPS Rating lags at 79, it could be moving up soon. After its EPS declined in 2023, Gulfport returned to profit growth in the first quarter of 2024, according to IBD MarketSurge data. In Q3, the company earned $3.36 a share, vs. a year-ago loss of $1.39.
Revenue fell in five of the six most recent quarterly reports. Analysts expect sales to fall 32% in Q4, but then climb 18%, 83% and 38% the first three quarters of 2025 for the energy stock.
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