PAA Natural Gas Storage's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 19%

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

PAA Natural Gas Storage (NYS: PNG) reported earnings on Nov. 5. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), PAA Natural Gas Storage whiffed on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

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


Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
 PAA Natural Gas Storage booked revenue of $66.1 million. The three analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for revenue of $80.8 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 17% lower than the prior-year quarter's $79.3 million.

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 $0.25. The eight earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.20 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.24 for Q3 were 14% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.21 per share.

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 51.4%, 1,270 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 30.0%, 840 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 27.1%, 760 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $91.5 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.29.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $358.7 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.95.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 66 members out of 67 rating the stock outperform, and one members rating it underperform. Among 20 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 20 give PAA Natural Gas Storage a green thumbs-up, and give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on PAA Natural Gas Storage is hold, with an average price target of $19.61.

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The article PAA Natural Gas Storage's Earnings Beat Last Year's by 19% originally appeared on Fool.com.

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. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. 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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