Shares of Occidental Petroleum (OXY) are up in after-hours trading after the oil company reported earnings for its third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. Earnings per share came in at $1.00, which beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.74 per share. In addition, sales increased by 0.2% year-over-year, with revenue hitting $7.173 billion. This beat analysts’ expectations of $7.12 billion.
Furthermore, oil and gas pre-tax earnings were $1.2 billion, down from $1.6 billion in the previous quarter. This drop was mainly attributable to asset sales. When adjusting for these items, pre-tax earnings actually increased due to higher sales volume. This was despite lower realized commodity prices.
Moreover, total company production averaged 1,412 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, which beat the company’s own expectations by 22 Mboed at the midpoint. The Permian region led the way with a production total of 729 Mboed, while the Gulf of Mexico region lagged at 136 Mboed. The Rockies & Other Domestic regions and International operations also contributed with 321 Mboed and 226 Mboed, respectively.
Investor Sentiment for OXY Stock
The sentiment among TipRanks investors is currently positive. Out of the 766,063 portfolios tracked by TipRanks, 4.5% hold OXY stock. In addition, the average portfolio weighting allocated towards OXY among those who do have a position is 8.47%. This is an improvement compared to the previous earnings report, when 3.9% of investors had a position, and suggests that investors of the company are confident about its future.
Furthermore, in the last 30 days, 3.3% of those holding the stock increased their positions. As a result, the stock’s sentiment is above the sector average, as demonstrated in the following image:
Is OXY a Buy or Sell Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on OXY stock based on three Buys, nine Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 16% decline in its share price over the past year, the average OXY price target of $62 per share implies 21.8% upside potential. However, it’s worth noting that estimates will likely change following today’s earnings report.
