Venoco Crushes Earnings Estimates

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Venoco (NYS: VQ) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Venoco missed estimates on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

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


Gross margins contracted, operating margins expanded, and net margins shrank.

Revenue details
Venoco recorded revenue of $85.4 million. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see a top line of $87.6 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 7.8% higher than the prior-year quarter's $79.2 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 $0.65. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.12 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.47 for Q1 compared to -$0.43 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 65.5%, 270 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 21.5%, 3,190 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -32.7%, 250 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $91.3 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.15.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $376.9 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.75.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 138 members rating the stock outperform and 18 members rating it underperform. Among 48 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 44 give Venoco a green thumbs-up, and four give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Venoco is hold, with an average price target of $11.50.

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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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