Yemisi Izuora
Zacks Equity Research, has cast doubt about oil major, Total balancing its books as it appear set to announce Q1 report.
Total is expected to report first-quarter 2019 results on April 26, before the opening bell. This integrated international oil and gas company missed earnings estimates in the last reported quarter by 4.10 per cent.
TOTAL’s Egina field start-up’s production is predicted to boost output in the first quarter. The company started production from the Egina field in Nigeria on December 29, 2018 and the field has a capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day. The company is the operator of the project with a 24 per cent interest.
Zacks said Total has continued to benefit from its share buyback policy, cost-saving initiatives, accretive acquisitions and joint ventures. These factors are anticipated to benefit the company’s earnings in the to-be-reported quarter as well.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is $1.09 per share, which is in line with the year-ago reported figure.
“Our proven model indicates that TOTAL is unlikely to beat estimates this earnings season. This is because it currently does not have the right combination of two key ingredients. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen”, said Zacks.