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Eni (E) Beats on Q1 Earnings Estimates on Higher Prices

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Integrated energy company Eni SpA (E - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2017 adjusted earnings from continuing operations of 45 cents per American Depositary Receipt/ADR, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 22 cents. In the year-earlier quarter, the company reported adjusted loss of 6 cents.

Total revenue in the quarter jumped 37% to €18,532 million ($19.7 billion) from €13,551 million ($13.6 billion) in the year-ago quarter.

Higher production along with increased oil and gas prices realizations led to the solid results for the first three months of this year.

Operational Performance

Total liquids and gas production in the first quarter was 1,795 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d), up 2.3% year over year.

Liquids production was 832 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), down 6.5% from the year-ago level of 890 MBbl/d. However, natural gas production jumped 11% year over year to 5,254 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).    

Realized price of oil was $48.65 per barrel, up 63.9% from the year-ago realized price of $29.69 per barrel. Realized natural gas price was $3.60 per thousand cubic feet (kcf), jumped 9% from $3.31 in the year-ago comparable quarter.  

Gas sales were 23.28 billion cubic meters (Bcm), almost in-line with the year-ago quarter. The result is favored by higher sales from Europe, excluding Italy.

Financials

As of Mar 31, 2017, the company had long-term debt of €20.2 billion. The debt-to-capitalization ratio was 33.9%.   

In the reported quarter, net cash generated by operating activities from continuing operations amounted to €1.9 billion. Capital expenditure totaled €2.8 billion.

Outlook

Eni expects oil and natural gas production in 2017 to be 1.84 million (BOE/D), higher by 5% year-over-year. The company also projects discovery of 0.8 billion BOE of new resources in 2017.

The company expects full-year capital spending to decline 18% from the year-ago comparable quarter. Also, total debt level for 2017 is anticipated to decline from the previous year.

Q1 Price Performance

The company outperformed the Zacks categorized Oil & Gas-International Integrated industry during the first quarter of this year. Through the aforesaid period, Eni improved 1.5% against 5.1% downfall for the broader industry.

Zacks Rank

Eni carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy sector include Statoil ASA , McDermott International Inc. and W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI - Free Report) . Statoil and McDermott sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while W&T Offshore carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.    

McDermott beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters with an average positive surprise of 387.50%.  

W&T Offshore had an average positive earnings surprise of 69.21% in the last four quarters. 

Statoil is expected to witness year-over-year earnings growth of 1,983.33% for 2017.

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