By Erin McCarthy
EOG Resources Inc. (EOG) swung to a profit in the fourth quarter
as the natural-gas-and-oil producer reported a strong increase in
revenue, largely driven by higher crude oil and condensate
revenue.
As EOG increases its focus on oil, the company set its crude oil
production growth target at 27% for 2014, and set its overall
production growth target at 11.5%.
In the fourth quarter, EOG's crude oil and condensate
revenue--its biggest contributor to the top line--grew 48%.
Overall, EOG posted earnings of $580.2 million, or $2.12 a
share, compared with a loss of $505 million, or $1.88 a share, a
year earlier. The prior-year quarter's results included writedowns
of certain Canadian natural gas assets and also net losses on asset
dispositions.
Excluding impacts from mark-to-market commodity derivative
contracts, profit rose to $2.00 a share from $1.61 in the prior
year.
Net operating revenue increased 24% to $3.75 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had estimated earnings of
$1.94 a share and revenue of $3.63 billion.
Natural-gas liquids revenue rose 4.5%, while natural-gas revenue
shrank 1.7%.
Total operating expenses fell 18% to $2.77 billion.
The company also said its board approved a two-for-one stock
split in the form of a stock dividend. It also declared a
post-split quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share.
The stock has climbed 6% in the past three months.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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