Occidental Petroleum Outruns Estimates Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Occidental Petroleum (NYS: OXY) reported earnings on Jan. 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

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

Gross margins dropped, operating margins expanded, net margins increased.

Revenue details
Occidental Petroleum chalked up revenue of $6.03 billion. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ foresaw sales of $5.70 billion. Sales were 31% higher than the prior-year quarter's $5.06 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $2.02. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $1.94 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $2.01 for Q4 were 35% higher than the prior-year quarter's $1.49 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Figures may be non-GAAP to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 29.9%, 9,950 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 57.9%, 1,870 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 27.1%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $5.71 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.95.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $24.40 billion. The average EPS estimate is $8.53.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,323 members out of 1,366 rating the stock outperform, and 43 members rating it underperform. Among 333 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 323 give Occidental Petroleum a green thumbs-up, and 10 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Occidental Petroleum is outperform, with an average price target of $115.80.

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At the time thisarticle was published 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 ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. 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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