Mensajepor mmarcodelpont » Vie Ene 30, 2015 11:22 am
a este le tiraron unos manguitos
Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR) failed on two occasions last year to release its third-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2014. Later, the company negotiated with its shareholders, allowing itself time till January 31 to post these results. On Wednesday, the oil producer published the long-awaited unaudited financial results for the third quarter.
Barclays plc posted a research note, reviewing Petrobras’ earnings results. Investors and market participants were left disappointed as the company did not include a comprehensive review of the asset write-downs related to the ongoing investigation into the company, following allegations of corruption and bribery.
As a result, the stock plummeted 12% on Wednesday to $6.55. Barclays believes that the market has overreacted to the release of third-quarter results. The analyst at Barclays finds it noteworthy that the potential write-downs will be non-cash charges, against existing assets. It will not affect the company’s funding requirements, cash position, or its cash flow streams.
The investigation brought bad publicity to the firm and resulted in a loss of investor confidence. Barclays believes that the damage to Petrobras was already recognized by investors and reflected in the company’s share price, which has declined over 80% since 2010. The further 12% drop was due to an overreaction, according to Barclays.
Negative news will continue to surround the company in the coming months, warns Barclays. But the oil company is at a stage where its stock could potentially double over the next three years, as certain positives from the third-quarter earnings releases were noted.
Petrobras estimates its capital spending to be around $31-33 billion during 2015. It is lower than the research firm had expected. In the current low-price environment, decreased capital expenditure is seen as a positive as low oil price has squeezed the profit margins for energy firms. The Brazilian oil giant scrapped off Premium I and II construction costs, which indicates that the company is not going to go ahead with poor investment decisions, making itself more efficient. The written-off projects incurred costs but provided little utility, which lead to Barclays’ analyst terming them “white elephant projects”.
Third-quarter earnings were came in at $1.19 billion (R$3.1 billion), or $0.21 per American Depository Share (ADS), which matched Barclays expectations. However, market consensus was $0.31 per ADS. It would have gotten matched too, if not for certain one-off items which caused a charge of $540 million (R$1.4 billion).
The only significant negative was the absence of the assets write-down figure, which analysts and investors had been looking forward to. In the weeks building up to the earnings release, varied write-down figures were floating around in news, ranging from $4-20 billion.
Petrobras stock currently receives an Overweight rating from Barclays, as the research house expects positive momentum in the short term. The government-owned entity may also be allowed to raise domestic fuel price for 12-24 months, according to Barclays, as a measure to help regain its former financial standing. Barclays has assigned a 12-month target price of $14 on the stock