What Does Wall Street See for Penn West Petroleum's Q4? (PWE)

What Does Wall Street See for Penn West Petroleum's Q4?

Penn West Petroleum (NYSE: PWE ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on Feb. 14. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Penn West Petroleum's revenues will increase 35.1% and EPS will remain in the red.

The average estimate for revenue is $726.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.02.

Revenue details
Last quarter, Penn West Petroleum reported revenue of $796.9 million. GAAP reported sales were 4.0% lower than the prior-year quarter's $678.7 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Last quarter, EPS came in at -$0.14. GAAP EPS were -$0.14 for Q3 versus $0.28 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Recent performance
For the preceding quarter, gross margin was 60.3%, 180 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -17.6%, 7,360 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -10.4%, 3,000 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead

The full year's average estimate for revenue is $3.19 billion. The average EPS estimate is $0.31.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,352 members out of 1,399 rating the stock outperform, and 47 members rating it underperform. Among 283 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 276 give Penn West Petroleum a green thumbs-up, and seven give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Penn West Petroleum is hold, with an average price target of $22.03.

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Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor of Motley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Report this Comment On February 12, 2013, at 3:09 PM, illinoisboy wrote:

If you look at the charts you see PWE going down at the same time crude oil is going up. If the price of crude stays above $90 PWE will shine. I am long PWE.