Big Oil Q4 Earnings Scorecard: Things Investors Need To Know
Zacks Investment Research | Feb 20, 2019 08:51PM ET
With the fourth-quarter earnings season almost over, it’s time to sit back and analyze the bevy of ‘Big Oil’ firms that put in their reports. The world’s five biggest non-state oil firms – traditionally known as supermajors – reported profits that jumped in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year before. All but one of the companies also managed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. At the same time, a number of them jumped on the results, reflecting improvement in free cash flow generation.
In this writeup, we dive into the results from U.S.-based energy behemoths ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) plus the three European majors – Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) plc the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .
Debt: As of Dec 31, 2018, the company had $76.8 billion in total debt, as against $85.7 billion at the end of 2017.
Share Price Impact: The company's shares surged around 5.5% as cash flow from operations soared 202% from the year-earlier level it announced the third instalment of its three-year $25 billion buyback program.
TOT
Earnings & Revenue: The company reported fourth-quarter operating earnings per share of $1.17, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.22 by 4.1% due to slightly weaker production in the Middle east and. However, the bottom line improved from the year-ago profit of $1.04, driven by rising oil prices and solid production.
Total revenues at the Paris, France-based energy company was $46.3 billion, increasing 12% year over year.
Production: The production of oil and natural gas averaged 2,876 MBOE/d (55% liquids), up 10% from last year.
Free Cash Flow: In the fourth quarter, the company generated around $10.6 billion of cash from operating activities while shelling out $4.5 billion on capital expenditures for free cash flow of $6.1 billion. During the same period, TOTAL paid out around $700 million as dividends to its shareholders and repurchased $500 million worth of shares.
Debt: Net debt as of Dec 31, 2018 was $21.7 billion compared with $15.4 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Share Price Impact: Despite announcing a 3.1% increase in its 2019 dividend, TOTAL shares edged down 1% following lower-than-expected earnings number.
BP
Earnings & Revenue: The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.04 per American Depositary Share (ADS) on a replacement cost basis, excluding non-operating items, ahead the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 78 cents and the year-ago quarter’s 64 cents. The London, UK-based company benefited from higher oil equivalent price realizations, ramped-up production from key upstream projects and strength in the fuel marketing businesses.
In the reported quarter, BP’s revenues of $76.9 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $60.7 billion and was 10% above the fourth-quarter 2017 sales.
Production: The production of oil and natural gas averaged 2,627 MBOE/d (50% liquids), up from last year’s 2,581 MBOE/d.
Free Cash Flow: In the fourth quarter, the company generated around $7.1 billion of cash from operating activities while shelling out $4.4 billion on capital expenditures for free cash flow of $2.7 billion. During the same period, BP paid out around $1.7 billion as dividends to its shareholders and repurchased $16 million worth of shares.
Debt: BP's net debt was $44,144 million at the end of the fourth quarter, higher than $37,819 million a year ago.
Share Price Impact: The company's shares gained 4% as investors were encouraged by the solid quarterly results.
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