As I’m sure you noticed, oil prices are sliding dramatically — and oil stocks are getting hammered.

The Dow (DJI) was down 3.6% yesterday, as oil plunged and investors took to the hills. Investors smell a rat, and the rat is the economy. Suddenly, we’ve got an oil glut and low demand.

Not only that, but the March rally convinced a lot of investors that happy days were here again. So, of course, they went out and loaded up on oil stocks. Oops!

And into this mess steps Exxon-Mobil (XOM), which is set to announce earnings Thursday, April 30. (Learn 12 Keys to Trading Earnings for Profits.)

Like I said, the stock has lots of new buyers, all bullish on a strong economic recovery.

Now, XOM may hit its estimates a week from Thursday. But what’s most likely to happen is that a big, positive reaction won’t materialize because of the demand problem. That’ll scare the begeebers out of the newbies, who’ll fall over themselves to dump the stock.

The analysts play a big role in this sad tale, too. They’ve raised their outlook ahead of earnings AND 64% of them have an all-out “buy” on the stock. Watch those ratings shift next week.

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Technically, the stock, now at $65.29, is moving south below its 50-week moving average, and it looks headed for $56.60.

Now would be a great time to buy puts on XOM.

Don’t sit back and let profits slip through your fingers this earnings season. You can get specific recommendations from Chris Johnson, complete with buy and sell instructions, by signing up for Winning Edge today.

Chris Johnson is the co-editor of The Winning Edge trading service designed to help you make options profits around corporate earnings and other market events. For more information about Chris, read his bio here.