NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Marathon Oil Corp. are up by 1.43% to $29.18 in early afternoon trading on Friday, as some energy stocks rally along with the price of oil. The commodity is gaining as investors await oil-field services firm Baker Hughes' weekly U.S. oil rig count, which will be released today at 1 p.m. EDT, the Wall Street Journal reports. Crude oil (WTI) is gaining by 1.14% to $51.37 per barrel and Brent crude is climbing by 1.87% to $57.63 per barrel this afternoon, according to the CNBC.com index. The number of oil-drilling rigs had dropped for 17 consecutive weeks and as of last week stood at 802, half of what it was only six months ago, the Journal noted, adding that the rate of decline has slowed in recent weeks due to resilient oil production. Analysts are estimating that the market is currently over supplied by between 1 million and 2 million barrels of oil per day, but are expecting that once company spending cuts start to take effect the production rate will decline, possibly as early as this month. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates MARATHON OIL CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate MARATHON OIL CORP (MRO) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed-some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, reasonable valuation levels and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, disappointing return on equity and weak operating cash flow." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income increased by 146.9% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $375.00 million to $926.00 million. The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.30, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.94 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems. The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. In comparison to the other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, MARATHON OIL CORP's return on equity is significantly below that of the industry average and is below that of the S&P 500. The share price of MARATHON OIL CORP has not done very well: it is down 24.79% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Looking ahead, we do not see anything in this company's numbers that would change the one-year trend. It was down over the last twelve months; and it could be down again in the next twelve. Naturally, a bull or bear market could sway the movement of this stock. You can view the full analysis from the report here: MRO Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
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