EQT Stock Fell after 4Q15 Earnings Announcement

EQT Beat 4Q15 Earnings, Revenue Estimates: Stock in Downtrend

(Continued from Prior Part)

EQT stock fell following 4Q15 earnings

EQT (EQT) announced its 4Q15 earnings on February 4, 2016, before the market opened. After the earnings were announced, EQT stock fell 1.9% to close at $59.76.

It’s worth noting that in the six weeks before the earnings announcement, EQT stock had risen ~25%, mainly due to the ~17% rise in natural gas prices during the same period.

EQT stock in downtrend

Declining natural gas prices over the past one year are putting the entire upstream sector into a downtrend. In the above graph, you can see that EQT stock is declining, creating a clear pattern of lower highs and lower lows.

EQT’s 2015 relative performance

For 2015, EQT underperformed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). EQT fell ~31%, and SPY was almost flat during the same period. Other oil and gas producers such as Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), and EOG Resources (EOG) fell ~13%, ~16%, and ~23%, respectively.

EQT stock performance after past earnings beats

In the past one year, EQT beat earnings expectations twice, in 1Q15 and 4Q14. In 1Q15, EQT reported its earnings before the market opened on April 23, 2015. That quarter, EQT beat the consensus earnings estimate by $0.45 per share. Following the earnings release, better-than-expected earnings saw EQT stock rise ~5% in three weeks.

In 4Q14, EQT stock rose ~12% in about three weeks after beating the consensus earnings estimate by $0.35 per share.

It’s worth noting that on both of these occasions, EQT beat earnings by huge margins, with delta of equal or greater than $0.35 per share.

Browse this series on Market Realist:

• Part 1 - EQT Takes a Loss in EPS, but Not as Much as Analysts Expected

• Part 2 - EQT’s 4Q15 Operational Performance and Management Strategies

• Part 3 - Analysts’ Forecasts for EQT after 4Q15 Earnings Release