Street

Aquila Inc., whose initial public offering opened with a flourish on Wall Street last spring, is essentially one year ahead in its earnings per share (EPS) forecast, and is on track to continue to deliver 25% growth into 2002, according to executives presenting third quarter earnings on Monday. The Kansas City, MO-based company, a subsidiary of UtiliCorp United Inc., reported net income of $37.2 million, or $.37 per share, an increase of 37% over the third quarter a year ago, when earnings posted were $.27 per share, or $23 million of net income. UtiliCorp offered Aquila as an IPO last April (see Daily GPI, April 25).

Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay told Wall Street analysts and investors the company plans to divest up to $5 billion in assets over the next two years in order to support its plummeting stock price. Included among the assets are Portland General Electric, which the company has been trying to unload for more than a year, some unnamed power plants on the West Coast, the company’s generation interests in India, and some energy businesses in Puerto Rico and Brazil. Enron also may be in talks to sell its wind turbine business, which represents a 6% share of the world market for installed wind turbines.

Murphy Oil shares plummeted 7% ($5.70) Friday to $75.45 after the company issued a profit warning. Murphy was among Wall Street’s 10 biggest losers, while most other energy stocks showed small losses or gains. The El Dorado, AR-based company said after the market closed on Thursday that third-quarter earnings will fall short of analysts’ expectations of $1.12 and would probably be between $0.80 to $1 per share.

Occidental Petroleum earnings of $466 million ($1.25 per share) beat Wall Street estimates by more than 20 cents/share. The company posted a 34% gain in net income before special items from the same period a year ago mainly on higher western gas prices and improved chemicals operations.

Dominion earnings beat consensus Wall Street estimates by about 2 cents/share coming in at $180 million (72 cents/share), compared to $139 million (59 cents/share) for the same period in 2000. The improved performance was mainly attributed to higher gas and oil prices and the addition of the Millstone nuclear power station. Other highlights included the addition of more than 2,600 MW of new generation during the quarter, 47,000 new energy delivery customers, a 130 Bcf increase in proven gas and oil reserves to 2.95 Tcfe–resulting in a 266% reserve replacement ratio, and the divestiture of Saxon Mortgage.

Occidental Petroleum earnings of $466 million ($1.25 per share) beat Wall Street estimates by more than 20 cents/share. The company posted a 34% gain in net income before special items from the same period a year ago mainly on higher western gas prices and improved chemicals operations.

Discounting reports from other Wall Street analysts about permanent gas “demand destruction” and rapid supply growth being the causes of the current price collapse, Robert Christensen of First Albany Corp. said prices have fallen mainly in reaction to strong storage injections this spring and probably will rebound because of minimal supply growth. Christensen released a report last week titled “Still a `No Show’- Natural Gas Supply Growth” that makes a case for remaining bullish in the face of rapidly declining spot prices.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission picked up some kudos from Wall Street last week for “providing regulatory certainty and consistency, with incentives for growth and risk-taking.” The Commission should “stay the course,” Curt Launer, veteran energy analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston testified at the Commission’s technical conference on the California Natural Gas Transportation Infrastructure.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission picked up some kudos from Wall Street yesterday for “providing regulatory certainty and consistency, with incentives for growth and risk-taking.” The Commission should “stay the course,” Curt Launer, veteran energy analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston testified at the Commission’s technical conference on the California Natural Gas Transportation Infrastructure.