El Paso's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 40%

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

El Paso (NYS: EP) reported earnings on Feb. 27. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), El Paso missed estimates on revenue and met expectations on earnings per share.

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

Gross margin contracted, operating margin shrank, and net margin increased.

Revenue details
El Paso recorded revenue of $1.23 billion. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see revenue of $1.35 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 25% higher than the prior-year quarter's $984.0 million.

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

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.28. The 11 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.28 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.22 for Q4 were 144% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.09 per share.

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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 63.8%, 160 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 21.6%, 960 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 15.0%, 780 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $1.33 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.27.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $5.32 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.18.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 853 members out of 887 rating the stock outperform, and 34 members rating it underperform. Among 198 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 192 give El Paso a green thumbs-up, and six give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on El Paso is outperform, with an average price target of $27.33.

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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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