Ultra Petroleum Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Ultra Petroleum (NYS: UPL) reported earnings on May 3. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Ultra Petroleum beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue was unchanged. Non-GAAP earnings per share grew significantly. GAAP earnings per share dropped significantly.


Gross margins expanded, operating margins shrank, net margins dropped.

Revenue details
 Ultra Petroleum tallied revenue of $225.6 million. The 11 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see revenue of $212.0 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

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 $0.38. The 20 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.27 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.38 for Q1 were 19% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.32 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.11 for Q1 were 80% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.55 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 67.8%, 130 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 38.0%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 7.3%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $222.6 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.35.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $916.5 million. The average EPS estimate is $1.42.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,523 members out of 1,579 rating the stock outperform, and 56 members rating it underperform. Among 290 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 277 give Ultra Petroleum 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 Ultra Petroleum is hold, with an average price target of $21.55.

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The article Ultra Petroleum Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines 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 recommends Ultra Petroleum. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ultra Petroleum and has the following options: Long Jan 2014 $30 Calls on Ultra Petroleum, Long Jan 2014 $40 Calls on Ultra Petroleum, and Long Jan 2014 $50 Calls on Ultra Petroleum. 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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