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Chevron just became the latest energy company to smash earnings expectations
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Chevron just became the latest energy company to smash earnings expectations.
The company posted first quarter results before the market open on Friday.
Earnings per diluted share came in at $1.37 in the quarter, much more than analysts’ estimate of $0.79, according to Bloomberg.
The company posted sales of $32 billion, better than the expectation for $26.3 billion.
“First quarter earnings declined from a year ago due to sharply lower oil prices, which reduced revenue and earnings in our upstream business,” said Chairman and CEO John Watson in the release. “Downstream operations were strong, benefiting from lower feedstock costs and improved refinery reliability.”
He continued: “We’re responding to the current price environment by capturing cost reductions, pacing new project approvals and further streamlining our portfolio as planned. We’re taking a number of deliberate actions to lower our cost structure, and I expect these efforts to increasingly show through in our financial results as the year progresses.”
In a note Friday, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee highlights that energy companies have seen the biggest “magnitude of surprise” in first quarter earnings. That means the sector is seeing the highest proportion of companies beating estimates more than they’re missing.
At 11.9%, that’s higher than the S&P 500 total of 7.1%, Lee notes.
Chevron produced 2.68 million barrels of oil per day in the quarter, up from 2.59 million per day in the previous period. It said the increase came primarily from higher activity in the US, Bangladesh and Argentina.
Oil drilling and exploration activity in the US lost $460 million in Q1, due to lower crude oil prices.
On Thursday, ExxonMobil posted a huge beat on earnings and revenues.
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