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Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) Q3 Earnings Lag, Sales Top

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Have you been eager to see how oil and gas finder Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ - Free Report) performed in Q3 in comparison with the market expectations? Let’s quickly scan through the key facts from this Calgary, Alberta-based company’s earnings release this morning:

About Canadian Natural Resources: Canadian Natural Resources is engaged in the acquisition, development and exploitation of crude oil and natural gas properties. It is one of the largest independent exploration and production companies in Canada, with extensive heavy crude oil and natural gas developments. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) but that could change following its thirdquarter 2017 earnings report which has just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1(Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

Surprise History: Canadian Natural Resources reported a positive earnings surprise of 22.22% in the last quarter. Coming to earnings surprise history, the company posted average positive earnings surprise of 4.29% in the trailing four quarters.

We have highlighted some of the key details from the just-released announcement below:

A Lower-than-Expected Profit: Canadian Natural Resources reported adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 16 cents.

Revenue Came in Higher-than-Expected: The company reported quarterly revenues of C$4,288 million (or $3,338 million), above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,287 million.

Key Stats: Canadian Natural reported quarterly production of 1,036,499 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), as against 735,212 BOE/d in the prior year quarter.       

Oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) production (accounting for 73.2% of total volumes) came in at 759,189 barrels per day (Bbl/d), 64.7% above the prior year quarter figure of 460,986 Bbl/d. Natural gas production was up 1.2% to 1,664 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).

As reported, average realized liquid price (before hedging) was C$46.33 per barrel during the third quarter, up 16.8% from the corresponding quarter last year. However, the average realized natural gas price (excluding hedging) for the three months ended Sep  30, 2017 was C$2.29 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) as against the year-ago level of C$2.44 per Mcf.

Total expenses incurred in the reported quarter amounted to C$3,506 million, reflecting an increase of 19.9% from the year-ago figure of C$2,924 million. The higher costs were mainly driven by increased production expenses which rose 58.7% to stand at C$1,577 million in the quarter under review. Transportation, depreciation and other financing expenses also increased in the quarter. These were mainly offset by gains from foreign exchange and investments.

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