Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Key Points

• Peabody Energy shares fell sharply after the earnings release, opening at $19.00 versus a prior close of $20.66 and later trading at $16.95.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.27 per share, missing analyst expectations of a $0.05 loss; revenue beat forecasts at $1.10 billion and rose 8.3% year over year.
• Analyst opinions were mixed, but the overall consensus rating was Hold, with a consensus price target of $34.12.

Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $20.66, but opened at $19.00. Peabody Energy shares last traded at $16.9540, with a volume of 977,390 shares trading hands.

The coal producer reported ($0.27) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. Peabody Energy had a negative net margin of 4.56% and a negative return on equity of 5.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.58) earnings per share.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BTU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley Financial raised Peabody Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, October 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Peabody Energy from $27.00 to $26.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peabody Energy from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Benchmark decreased their target price on Peabody Energy from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Peabody Energy from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Peabody Energy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peabody Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BTU. X Square Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Peabody Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,470,000. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new position in Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,463,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. purchased a new position in Peabody Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,959,000. Susquehanna Advisors Group Inc. acquired a new position in Peabody Energy during the second quarter worth about $1,081,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Peabody Energy by 387.1% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,556,305 shares of the coal producer's stock worth $35,982,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,770 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peabody Energy Trading Down 19.2%

The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.04.

Peabody Energy Company Profile

Peabody Energy Corp. is a global coal producer and supplier of energy and industrial fuels. The company mines, processes and markets thermal coal, which is primarily used for electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steelmaking. Peabody also provides coal-trading and logistics services and works with customers to transport products to domestic and international markets.

Peabody operates mines in the United States and Australia, serving electric utilities, steel producers and other industrial customers.

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