Fool Checkup: Alpha Natural Resources Earnings

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Alpha Natural Resources (NYS: ANR) reported earnings on Feb. 14. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Alpha Natural Resources met expectations on revenues and exceeded expectations on earnings per share.

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


Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
 Alpha Natural Resources tallied revenue of $1.56 billion. The 14 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for sales of $1.56 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 20% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.96 billion.

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 -$0.19. The 22 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted -$0.52 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.58 for Q4 against -$3.38 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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 30.2%, 1,870 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 11.8%, 970 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -8.2%, 2,960 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $1.35 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.62.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $5.53 billion. The average EPS estimate is -$2.30.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 867 members out of 929 rating the stock outperform, and 62 members rating it underperform. Among 181 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 162 give Alpha Natural Resources a green thumbs-up, and 19 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Alpha Natural Resources is hold, with an average price target of $10.38.

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The article Fool Checkup: Alpha Natural Resources Earnings 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 position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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