ATP Oil & Gas Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

ATP Oil & Gas (NAS: ATPG) reported earnings on Thursday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), ATP Oil & Gas beat expectations on revenues and exceeded expectations on earnings per share.

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

Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
ATP Oil & Gas notched revenue of $177.7 million. The four analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for a top line of $171.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 25% higher than the prior-year quarter's $141.7 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
EPS came in at -$0.56. The three earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast -$0.62 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.56 for Q4 compared to -$4.06 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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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 88.7%, 1,910 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 9.9%, 6,100 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -12.5%, 13,130 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $194 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.36.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $896.9 million. The average EPS estimate is -$1.38.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,323 members rating the stock outperform and 46 members rating it underperform. Among 376 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 363 give ATP Oil & Gas a green thumbs-up, and 13 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on ATP Oil & Gas is hold, with an average price target of $19.50.

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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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