Have you been paying attention to shares of Whiting Petroleum Corporation (WLL)? Shares have been on the move with the stock up 2.3% over the past month. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $81.57 in the previous session. Whiting Petroleum Corporation has gained 23.4% since the start of the year compared to the 21.4% move for the Zacks Oils-Energy sector and the 31.2% return for the Zacks Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States industry.

What's Driving the Outperformance?

The stock has a great record of positive earnings surprises, as it hasn't missed our earnings consensus estimate in any of the last four quarters. In its last earnings report on February 23, 2022, Whiting Petroleum Corporation reported EPS of $4.23 versus consensus estimate of $3.68.

For the current fiscal year, Whiting Petroleum Corporation is expected to post earnings of $19.96 per share on $1.61 billion in revenues. This represents a 47.96% change in EPS on a 5.02% change in revenues. For the next fiscal year, the company is expected to earn $20.94 per share on $1.63 billion in revenues. This represents a year-over-year change of 4.91% and 1.01%, respectively.

Valuation Metrics

Whiting Petroleum Corporation may be at a 52-week high right now, but what might the future hold for the stock? A key aspect of this question is taking a look at valuation metrics in order to determine if the company has run ahead of itself.

On this front, we can look at the Zacks Style Scores, as these give investors a variety of ways to comb through stocks (beyond looking at the Zacks Rank of a security). These styles are represented by grades running from A to F in the categories of Value, Growth, and Momentum, while there is a combined VGM Score as well. The idea behind the style scores is to help investors pick the most appropriate Zacks Rank stocks based on their individual investment style.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation has a Value Score of B. The stock's Growth and Momentum Scores are C and A, respectively, giving the company a VGM Score of B.

In terms of its value breakdown, the stock currently trades at 4X current fiscal year EPS estimates, which is not in-line with the peer industry average of 6.7X. On a trailing cash flow basis, the stock currently trades at 5X versus its peer group's average of 6.1X. This isn't enough to put the company in the top echelon of all stocks we cover from a value perspective.

Zacks Rank

We also need to consider the stock's Zacks Rank, as this supersedes any trend on the style score front. Fortunately, Whiting Petroleum Corporation currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) thanks to favorable earnings estimate revisions from covering analysts.