Stillwater Mining Co. Earnings: Here’s Why Investors are Excited Now

Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE:SWC) 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 up 1.71%.

Stillwater Mining Co. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Adjusted Earnings Per Share decreased 27.78% to $0.13 in the quarter versus EPS of $0.18 in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Decreased 21.66% to $203.4 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Stillwater Mining Co. reported adjusted EPS income of $0.13 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean analyst estimate of $0.05. It missed the average revenue estimate of $217.67 million.

Quoting Management: Commenting on the Company’s 2012 annual results, Frank McAllister, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, observed, “The Company’s mining and processing operations performed exceptionally well during the year. Combined safety performance in 2012 at our two Montana mines was the best in the Company’s history. Production has been steady and better than planned. While palladium and platinum prices on average were substantially lower in 2012 than in the prior year, resulting in lower earnings, PGM market fundamentals currently are robust, particularly with respect to palladium.”

Key Stats (on next page)…