Questar Earnings: Here’s Why Investors are Not Happy Now

Questar Corporation (NYSE:STR) delivered a profit and beat Wall Street’s expectations, BUT came up short on beating the revenue expectation. The revenue miss is a negative sign to shareholders seeking high growth out of the company. Shares are down 1.19%.

Questar Corporation Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 5.88% to $0.36 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.34 in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Decreased 3.33% to $343 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Questar Corporation reported adjusted EPS income of $0.36 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.35. It missed the average revenue estimate of $381.19 million.

Quoting Management: “I am very pleased with Questar’s performance for 2012 in a challenging economic environment,” said Ronald W. Jibson, Questar chairman, president and CEO. “Even with the cost of the retirement incentive, Questar posted record net income and an industry-leading return on equity. Adjusted EBITDA was up 5% to $568 million for the year, allowing us to fund growth projects and maintain a strong balance sheet while still returning capital to shareholders via a 5% dividend increase and the repurchase of 4.6 million company shares at an average price below $20 per share. Questar Gas and Wexpro grew net income by 2% and 9% respectively, while Questar Pipeline’s income dipped slightly. Questar delivered full-year EPS at the top end of our 2012 guidance, despite the many headwinds that we discussed with investors throughout the year.”

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