Penn West Petroleum Beats on the Top Line (PWE)

Penn West Petroleum Beats on the Top Line

Penn West Petroleum (NYSE: PWE ) reported earnings on Feb. 14. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Penn West Petroleum beat expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded significantly and GAAP loss per share dropped.

Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
Penn West Petroleum logged revenue of $793.6 million. The four analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected revenue of $726.7 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 17% lower than the prior-year quarter's $799.7 million.

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

EPS details
EPS came in at -$0.11. The seven earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted -$0.02 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.11 for Q4 against -$0.13 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 62.4%, 340 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -39.1%, 2,000 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -8.0%, 40 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $656.2 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.05.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.77 billion. The average EPS estimate is -$0.04.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,352 members out of 1,400 rating the stock outperform, and 48 members rating it underperform. Among 284 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 277 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 $10.91.

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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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