Marathon Oil Corporation "sell"

04/23/03 - First Albany

NEW YORK, April 23 (New Ratings) - Analysts at First Albany issue a "sell" rating on Marathon Oil Corp (MRO). The target price is set to $14.

Shares of Marathon Oil, a company engaged in the exploration, production, marketing and transportation of crude oil and natural gas, are currently trading at $23.22.

According to First Albany’s research note, Marathon Oil’s 1Q03 EPS has been reduced from $1.06 to 0.87, primarily due to the weak results reported by MAP, the company's refining/marketing joint venture with Ashland, plagued by a poor utilisation rate and unprofitable downtime.

The analysts say that Ashland’s results indicated poor downstream profitability, which is likely to adversely impact Marathon’s results. According to the analysts, Marathon’s shares are overvalued compared to industry standards and investors are advised to disinvest. Marathon is expected to report 1Q03 results on April 24, the analysts report.

The EPS estimates for 2003 and 2004 are $2.15 and $0.85, respectively. The P/E estimates for 2003 and 2004 are 10.8x and 27.3x, respectively.

First Albany issues a "sell" rating on Marathon Oil Corp.