Short interest in several large oil and gas stocks rose in the two-week period to January 15, likely as a result of expected pressure on crude oil prices, refining margins and drilling demand. Investors’ bets on fourth-quarter results appear to be in place, with four of the six companies we looked at reporting this week.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) saw short interest rise 2% to 13.87 million shares. About 0.7% of Chevron’s float is now short. Chevron reports fourth-quarter results on Friday and is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $2.57 on revenues of $63.14 billion. The EPS estimate is substantially lower than the $3.57 the company posted in the fourth quarter of 2012, even though revenues are more than $2.5 billion higher.

Short interest in Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) saw short interest rise 1.7% to 56.99 million shares, about 1.3% of the company’s float. Exxon is expected to report fourth-quarter EPS of $1.92 on revenues of $113.99 billion on Thursday. Both the EPS and revenue estimates are lower than the year-ago fourth quarter.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) posted a jump of 6.3% in short interest to a total of 12.6 million shares. Short interest comprises about 2.3% of Valero’s float. The company is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results Wednesday, and analysts are expecting EPS of $1.51 on revenues of $30.85. As with the two large integrated companies, Valero’s earnings and revenues are seen lower than a year ago.

Short interest in Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) rose 0.9% to 53.8 million shares, which represents about 9.4% of the total float. Chesapeake is not scheduled to report results until mid-February. Analysts estimate EPS at $0.42, down from $0.53 a year ago, and revenues at $4.71 billion, up about 33% from the year-ago revenue of $3.54 billion.

Oilfield services giant Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) saw short interest rise 12.5% to 14 million shares, about 1% of Schlumberger’s float. The largest oilfield services company reported fourth-quarter results last week and posted higher EPS and revenues than it did a year ago.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) had a jump of 35.8% in short interest to 8.21 million shares, or about 1.9% of the company’s float. It is scheduled to report results on Friday, and analysts are estimating EPS at $1.39 on revenues of $5.86 billion. The revenue estimate is higher than last year’s fourth-quarter actual of $5.68 billion, but the EPS estimate is below last year’s total of $1.44.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.