|
Conoco, Texaco net spurts
|
 |
January 26, 2000: 10:30 a.m. ET
Conoco beats expectations; Texaco misses analysts' forecast by a penny
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Surging crude oil prices helped two of the largest U.S. oil companies post higher fourth-quarter profits Wednesday, though one fell just shy of Wall Street's expectations.
Texaco (TX), the nation's third-biggest oil and gas company, posted operating income of $370 million, or 67 cents a diluted share, up from $92 million, or 15 cents, a year ago. Analysts polled by First Call Corp. had expected the White Plains, N.Y.-based company to earn 68 cents a share.
Excluding special charges, Texaco earned $318 million, or 58 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared with a year-earlier loss of $213 million, or 43 cents.
For the year, Texaco posted operating income of $1.21 billion, or $2.21 a share, up from $894 million, or $1.59, a year earlier. Excluding special charges, the company earned $1.17 billion, or $2.14 a share, up from $578 million, or 99 cents in 1998.
Conoco Inc. (COC.A), meanwhile, posted fourth-quarter income of $324 million, or 51 cents a diluted share, up from year-earlier pro forma income of $79 million, or 12 cents a share. Analysts polled by First Call had expected the Houston-based company to earn 44 cents a share.
Because it took on a large amount of debt from parent DuPont Co. (DD) after becoming a publicly traded company in October 1998, Conoco restated its fourth-quarter and full-year 1998 earnings as pro forma, as if it were operating on its own for the full year.
For the year, Conoco, it earned $782 million, or $1.23 a share, compared with pro forma income of $663 million, or $1.04 a share, the previous year. Conoco is well known on Wall Street as the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. The company raised $4.4 billion when its former parent DuPont sold its 30 percent stake Oct. 21 1998.
Both companies attributed their improved results to higher oil prices, which have almost tripled in the past 12 months. In the fourth quarter alone, crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $24.51 a barrel in the fourth quarter, almost double its price a year earlier. Improved productivity in exploration and production also helped bolster the bottom line, the companies said.
Texaco shares fell 1-1/16 to 55 in early New York trade, while Conoco's class A stock rose 3/16 to 24-7/16. 
|
|
|
Texaco
Conoco
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
