Top Performer for Mon: Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO)

Shares of Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (CRZO - Snapshot Report) are climbing on Monday in the wake of its third-quarter report, which included adjusted earnings per share that surpassed the consensus.

CRZO is beginning the week as a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank company with shares that have gained about 8.3%. Volume is at approximately 640,000 shares, compared to the daily average of 856,000.

Earnings estimates for this year have been steady over the past 2 months, while expectations for next year have gained in the high single digits. It will be interesting to see if these numbers improve once analysts have digested this morning's data.

Carrizo Oil & Gas is an energy company actively engaged in the exploration, development, exploitation, and production of oil and natural gas, primarily in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia, and in proven onshore trends along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast regions.

The company is part of the oil-U.S. Exploration & Production industry. There is only 1 other name from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List: Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners L.P. (PSE - Snapshot Report). (There are 227 names on the Zacks #1 Rank List today in total.)

Third-Quarter Report

Earlier today, Carrizo Oil & Gas announced adjusted earnings per share of 37 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents. This marks the third straight quarter of better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Adjusted revenues from the sale of oil and natural gas production was down more than 20% to $46 million from $56.9 million last year. The decline was attributed to lower realized oil and natural gas prices.

However, production volumes for Carrizo Oil & Gas increased 37% in the quarter to 8.21 Bcfe, versus 5.98 Bcfe a year earlier. Contributions from the Barnett Shale development was the main driver of this improvement. The gain in production volumes also helped to partially offset the losses in adjusted revenues.

Earnings Estimates

As mentioned earlier, Carrizo Oil & Gas' earnings estimates for this year have been steady for the past month. However, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17 per share remains nearly 15% better than the 3 months-ago outlook of $1.02.

On the other hand, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year of $1.40 per share has been much more active. The guidance is up 8.5% in 2 months, including a rise of more than 5% in 30 days.

There are currently 3 covering analysts for this year and next year.