Oil and gas producer Encore Acquisition shares soaring
NEW YORK—Shares of Encore Acquisition Co. shot up Thursday after the independent oil and natural gas producer handily topped Wall Street expectations.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based company reported after the markets closed Wednesday that its adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter climbed to $1.08, well above the 87 cents analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average.
Shares rose $6.89, or 13.8 percent, to $56.79. Earlier in the session, the stock hit a new year high of $56.97.
The success arose from both higher production and higher prices, wrote Pritchard Capital Partners analyst Stephen Berman, who also said Encore "continues to under-promise and over-deliver."
Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Singer, who has a "Buy" rating and a $65 price target, said the results were "positive across the board. Consistency of production versus guidance in recent quarters reflects management's restructuring in 2007, while the company continues to move into new plays for which we believe the shares receive little recognition."
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Mitchell Wurschmidt kept his "Hold" rating because the share price has had a "nice run," but increased his earnings-per-share forecast for the second quarter to $1.02 from 67 cents and his full-year 2008 earnings per share estimate to $3.83 from $2.99.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect, on average, second quarter earnings per share of 84 cents and full-year 2008 earnings per share of $3.57.
