American company Occidental Petroleum Corp Stock Crashes

American Company Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares sank 0.42% to $25.96 Friday. This proved to be an all-around favorable trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX rising 0.08% to 4,204.11 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising 0.19% to 34,529.45. This underperformance has broken the two days winning streak.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. closed $6.56 below its 52-week high ($32.52), which the company reached on March 5th. The stock underperformed when compared to some of its competitors Friday, as Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM fell 0.32% to $58.37, Chevron Corp. CVX rose 0.76% to $103.79, and ConocoPhillips COP rose 0.38% to $55.74. Trading volume (10.1 M) remained 7.3 million below its 50-day average volume of 17.4 M.

Occidental Petroleum Corp should be able to catch up to other energy companies as higher oil prices help the exploration company pay down its debts, according to Goldman Sachs. Energy stocks have rallied since early November as the U.S. economic recovery picked up, but Occidental has lagged despite rising 46% in 2021. Goldman pointed out that the stock has underperformed its sector year to date and dramatically since its 2019 acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum.

Analyst Neil Mehta upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, saying in a note to clients on Thursday that the gap between Occidental and its competitors was too wide. Neil Mehta upgraded Occidental Petroleum from Neutral to Buy while keeping the price target unchanged at $31.