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Sunoco (SUN) to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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Sunoco LP (SUN - Free Report) is set to report fourth-quarter 2021 results on Feb 16, before the opening bell.

In the last reported quarter, Sunoco announced earnings of $1.00 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.06. In the trailing four quarters, Sunoco’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate twice and missed the same on two occasions, with the average surprise being 47.3%. This is depicted in the graph below:

Sunoco LP Price and EPS Surprise

Sunoco LP Price and EPS Surprise

Sunoco LP price-eps-surprise | Sunoco LP Quote

Let’s see how things have shaped up prior to the fourth-quarter earnings announcement.

Trend in Estimate Revision

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fourth-quarter earnings per share of $1.14 has witnessed one upward and one downward revision over the past 60 days. The estimated figure suggests a year-over-year improvement of 48.1%.

Similarly, the consensus estimate for fourth-quarter revenues of $4.9 billion indicates a 99.9% increase from the year-ago reported figure.

Factors to Consider

Compared to the year-ago quarter, fuel demand has improved drastically in the December quarter of 2021. The massive improvement is owing to the rolling out of coronavirus vaccines that encouraged people to join offices and travel. This is likely to be beneficial for Sunoco since it is a leading distributor of motor fuel. SUN distributes motor fuel to roughly 10,000 convenience stores, distributors, independent dealers and commercial customers.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Sunoco’s motor fuel sales is pegged at $4,827 million, suggesting a significant improvement from $2,463 million in the year-ago quarter.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Sunoco this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP for the company is 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate is currently pegged at $1.14 per share, same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.  

Zacks Rank: Sunoco currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Energy Stock With Favorable Combination

Here are companies from the Energy space that you may want to consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the upcoming quarterly report:

EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.20% and is a Zacks #3 Ranked player. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

EOG Resources is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on Feb 24. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EOG’s earnings is pegged at $3.24 per share, suggesting an increase of 356.3% from the prior-year reported figure.

Viper Energy Partners (VNOM - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +14.93% and a Zacks Rank of 3.

Viper Energy is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb 22. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Viper Energy’s earnings is pegged at 19 cents per unit, suggesting an improvement of 58.3% compared to the prior-year reported figure.

Devon Energy Corp. (DVN - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.64% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Devon Energy is scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings on Feb 15. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DVN’s earnings is pegged at $1.21 per share.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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