Occidental Petroleum’s fourth-quarter profit beats estimates
Occidental Petroleum Corp. reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, sending its stock up on Wall Street.
The Westwood-based company, already the biggest producer of oil inside the U.S., said its domestic production of oil and natural gas rose to the equivalent of 475,000 barrels of oil a day, setting a record for the ninth straight quarter.
Occidental’s fourth-quarter net income, reduced by $1.1 billion in after-tax charges, fell 79% to $336 million, or 42 cents a share, from $1.63 billion, or $2.01 a share, a year earlier.
Sales in the quarter rose 2.3% to $6.17 billion from $6.03 billion.
Tim Rezfan, a financial analyst with Sterne Agee, said in a note to investors that Occidental’s earnings per share beat his estimate by 14 cents.
The company’s shares were changing hands Thursday at $87.72, up $2.40, or 2.8%.
Occidental “has been one of the best performers in our coverage group” in 2013, Rezfan wrote. “We expect shares to continue to outperform on the heels of this report.”
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