Are Oils-Energy Stocks Lagging Imperial Oil (IMO) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Oils-Energy stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Imperial Oil (IMO) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Oils-Energy sector should help us answer this question.

Imperial Oil is a member of our Oils-Energy group, which includes 238 different companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Imperial Oil is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IMO's full-year earnings has moved 100.2% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that IMO has returned about 37.9% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Oils-Energy stocks have gained an average of 24.4%. This shows that Imperial Oil is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Oils-Energy sector, Cenovus Energy (CVE), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 63.4%.

For Cenovus Energy, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 178.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Imperial Oil belongs to the Oil and Gas - Integrated - Canadian industry, a group that includes 4 individual stocks and currently sits at #7 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 47.5% so far this year, so IMO is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Cenovus Energy is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Oils-Energy stocks should continue to track Imperial Oil and Cenovus Energy. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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

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