Independent upstream oil & gas firm Triangle Petroleum (TPLM) was trading nearly 6 percent lower on Tuesday after the release of its earnings statement for the period ended Oct. 31.
For the third quarter of 2013, Triangle reported earnings, excluding one-time items, of $0.18 per share, on revenue of $88.6 million. While this represented a massive year-over-year increase, with revenue up over 300 percent and earnings well ahead of Q3 2012’s loss of $0.05 per share, the results lagged EPS estimates of $0.24 per share. Revenue, however, handily beat the consensus estimate of $72 million.
Triangle petroleum managed to up production substantially from the prior-year, with volume up nearly 400 percent to 626,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Revenue from exploration and production were at $55.5 million, an increase of over 430 percent on the year-ago period, while operating income was $40.5 million, an increase of nearly two-thirds.
Much of the gains have been credited to the company’s RockPile Energy Services unit, with a 64 percent increase on the prior year’s revenue at $66 million, while revenues from its midstream unit, Caliber Midstream, were up 8 percent to $4 million.
Despite the very large revenue increases, the Triangle’s earnings took a hit from the operating costs necessary to increase production. Expenses for the period tallied at $71.5 million, for a year-over-year increase of some 225 percent.
As for guidance, the company expects output to continue increasing in 2014, from 7,000-8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 7,500-8,500 per day. Investors sold off all the same, however, sending shares of the company down over 7 percent to $9.89.
Still, shareholders probably have little to worry about. Triangle is well-placed in some of the best shale acreage in the country, particularly in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. The stock has advanced nearly 80 percent throughout 2013, and despite the increase in operational costs, the company’s operating margin rests at a healthy 10.70 percent.
