CONSOL Energy Earnings: Reversing to a Loss Following Two Consecutive Quarters of Profit

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CNX) swung to a loss in the third quarter, missing analysts’ forecast. Consol Energy is a coal and gas energy producer and energy services provider that mainly serves the electric power generation industry in the United States.

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CONSOL Energy Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Reported a loss of $11.4 million (5 cents per diluted share) in the quarter. CONSOL Energy Inc. had a net income of $167.3 million or 73 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Fell 23.8% to $1.16 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: CONSOL Energy Inc. fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 2 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $1.31 billion.

Quoting Management: “CONSOL is serious about maintaining market discipline,” commented J. Brett Harvey, chairman and CEO. “Our premium low-vol coal is a scarce resource. When temporary market imbalances occur as they did this quarter with our overseas customers, we choose to idle our mine rather than force tons into the market. Our actions, as well as the actions of others, should enable the metallurgical coal market to come into balance faster. We have a strong balance sheet with a high level of liquidity, which allows us to exercise production discipline.”

Key Stats:

The company has now come in under analyst forecasts for three quarters in a row. It missed the mark by one cent in the second quarter and by 14 cents in the first quarter.

The company’s loss in the latest quarter follows profits in the previous three quarters. The company reported a profit of $152.7 million in the second quarter, a profit of $97.2 million in the first quarter and $195.6 million in the fourth of the last fiscal year.

Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters. In the second quarter, revenue declined 8.4% to $1.45 billion while the figure fell 2.6% in the first quarter from the year earlier.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly negative about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved down from 48 cents a share to 30 cents over the last sixty days. At $1.04 per share, the average estimate for the fiscal year has fallen from $1.66 ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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