Will WPX Energy (WPX) Surprise Estimates In Q1 Earnings?

WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE:WPX) will release first-quarter 2016 financial results before the market opens on May 5, 2016. In the prior quarter, this oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company reported a positive surprise of 31.58%. Let’s see how things are shaping up at the company prior to this announcement.

Factors to Consider

The ongoing softness in commodity prices, along with stiff competition in the oil and gas industry, is expected to impact WPX Energy’s operations and financial performance. Undoubtedly, cheap oil prices will have an adverse impact on the company’s first-quarter results.

WPX Energy continues to reshape its portfolio of assets by divesting non-core assets, lower operating costs and use the net proceeds to develop its high return core assets. During the first quarter 2016, the company entered into an agreement to sell assets worth $1.2 billion.

Surprise History

The above chart indicates that WPX Energy was able to deliver positive surprises in two out of the last four quarters. The average positive surprise was 36.05%.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that WPX Energy is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here.

Zacks ESP: This is because the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are both pegged at a loss of 20 cents, resulting in 0.00% ESP.

Zacks Rank: Though WPX Energy’s Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of the ESP, its 0.00% ESP makes a beat uncertain this quarter.

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Stocks in the U.S. oil and natural gas exploration and production space worth considering on the basis of our model include:

Linn Energy, LLC (NASDAQ:LINE) has an earnings ESP of +500.0% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report earnings on May 4, 2016.

Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE:RICE) has an earnings ESP of +11.11% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report earnings on May 4, 2016.

Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE:MUR) has an earnings ESP of +24.14% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report earnings after the market close on May 4, 2016.

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