Oil refiner Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) reported fourth quarter earnings of $317 million (EPS of $0.99), excluding special items. On a GAAP basis, the company earned $97 million (EPS of $0.70). The company wrote down an uncollectable receivable that cost it $0.41/share, or about $57 million.
Revenue for the quarter was $4.33 billion, far below the $6.53 billion total for the same period a year ago. For the year, revenue grew to $28.31 billion from $21.92 billion in 2007. EPS was $2.00 this year, compared with $4.06 last year.
Analysts had been expecting EPS of $0.91 on revenue of $5.78 billion for the quarter, and annual EPS of $1.91 on $29.22 billion in revenue.
The fall in earnings was attributed to “lower per barrel refining margins and higher per barrel manufacturing costs,” always a formula for failure. Tesoro noted that it currently holds $20 million in cash and had to draw $66 million on its revolving credit facility in 2008. Capital spending in 2008 totaled $724 million, down from $932 million in 2007, but higher than projected spending of about $600 million in 2009.
Tesoro’s share price is off about 13% so far this morning.
Paul Ausick
February 20, 2009
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