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Bull Of The Day: PDC Energy (PDCE)

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PDC Energy is a Zacks  Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it could be the oil patch play for your portfolio.   Let’s take a deeper look at this stock in this Bull of the Day article.

Description

PDC Energy, Inc. is an independent upstream operator engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. Headquartered in Denver, CO, the firm is focused on the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Delaware Basin in Texas.

Earnings History

The first thing I do when I look at stock is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has been able to communicate to the market.  A stock that consistently beats is one that has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

For PDCE, I see great history of beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  There are four beats over the last four quarters. 

The average positive earnings surprise over the last fours quarters works out to be 79%, which means that they are posting results that are more than what is expected. 

There was a monster beat four quarters ago (160%) and that skewed the average up quite a bit.  Still, the company beats and that helps boost estimates higher and higher.

Earnings Estimates Revisions

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher.  For PDCE, I see estimates moving higher.

Over the last 60 days I am seeing several increases.

This quarter has moved from 78 cents to $1.00 to $1.07.

Next quarter has seen a similar move from 68 cents to 93 cents and is now at $1.16.

The full year number has increase from $3.17 to $4.54 over the last 60 days.

Next year is at $5.32 and that is up from $3.38 over the same time horizon.

Positive movement in earnings estimates like that are the reason that this stock is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation

PDCE has a very reasonable valuation.  I see a 9.9x forward earnings multiple and that compares favorably with the industry average of a little more than 12x.  The price book of 1.7x is also very reasonable.  Price to sales at 5x is a little above the industry average of 3.5x. Analysts are calling for topline growth of 24% this year and 11% next year, so that is why the stock has a Zacks Style Score of A for Growth.

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