ConocoPhillips Posts Loss Despite Strong Operational Quarter

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 5:10AM EST · Published Jul 28, 11:55AM EDT

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ConocoPhillips Posts Loss Despite Strong Operational Quarter — © Thinkstock

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported its second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. Operational performance in this quarter was strong across the company’s portfolio, although it did end up posting a loss. Undoubtedly this was the result of lower oil and gas prices, and all companies in this industry are feeling the squeeze.

The company posted a net loss of $0.79 per share on revenue of $5.58 billion. The Thomson Reuters consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $0.61 per share and $6.73 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the oil giant posted $0.07 in earnings per share (EPS) on revenue of $8.66 billion.

Production for the second quarter of 2016 was 1,546 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBOED), a decrease of 49 MBOED from in the same period a year ago.

The company is increasing its full-year 2016 production guidance to 1,540 to 1,570 MBOED, reflecting strong year-to-date performance across most of the portfolio. Third-quarter 2016 production guidance is 1,510 to 1,550 MBOED, which reflects significant planned turnaround activity during the quarter.

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The consensus estimates for the third quarter call for a net loss of $0.33 per share on $8.2 billion in revenue. For the full year, there are consensus estimates are a per-share net loss of $2.00 and $24.99 billion in revenue.

Ryan Lance, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, commented on earnings:

The price environment remains challenging, but our business is running well and we continue to beat our production, capital expenditures and operating cost targets. During the quarter, we successfully completed significant turnaround activity and saw strong performance across the portfolio, which enabled us to improve our full-year guidance for production, capital expenditures and adjusted operating costs. We are continuing to ramp up production from our APLNG and Surmont projects, and achieved first production at Foster Creek Phase G in Canada. Our financial position improved as we reduced our debt by $0.8 billion and generated asset sale proceeds of $0.2 billion, remaining on track for about $1 billion of asset sale proceeds this year. We remain focused on successfully executing our operating plan, lowering the breakeven price of the business and positioning for strong momentum as prices recover.

Shares of ConocoPhillips were trading at $39.93 on Thursday, with a consensus analyst price target of $51.82 and a 52-week trading range of $31.05 to $57.24.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.