Murphy Oil saw its IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating rise to 98 Tuesday, up from 94 the day before.
The new score means the company is now outperforming 98% of all stocks in terms of the most important fundamental and technical stock-picking criteria. The market's biggest winners often have a 95 or higher grade in the early stages of a new price run, so that's a good starting point when looking for the best stocks to buy and watch.
Murphy Oil is currently forming a cup with handle, with a 41.60 buy point. See if the stock can break out in heavy trade at least 40% above average.
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One weak spot is the company's 79 EPS Rating, which tracks quarterly and annual earnings-per-share growth. Look for that to improve to 80 or better to show it's in the top 20% of all stocks.
Its Accumulation/Distribution Rating of D- shows moderate selling by institutional investors over the last 13 weeks. Look for the rating to improve to at least a C or better.
Earnings Report
In Q2, the company reported 227% EPS growth. Revenue growth rose 100%, up from 46% in the prior report. That marks one quarter of rising revenue increases.
Murphy Oil holds the No. 5 rank among its peers in the Oil & Gas-International Exploration & Production industry group. ConocoPhillips is the top-ranked stock within the group.
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