Occidental Petroleum’s Quarterly Loss More Than Doubles; Shares Slip

Occidental Petroleum Corp. incurred a wider-than-anticipated loss in the fourth quarter as sales underperformed. The energy company’s were down 2.5% in Tuesday’s pre-market trading session.

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) reported a 4Q loss of $0.78 per share, which more than doubled from the $0.30 loss per share posted in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected a loss of $0.58 per share. The company’s 4Q revenues of $3.35 billion declined 53.1% year-over-year and missed analysts’ expectations of about $4.37 billion.

During the reported quarter, the company’s oil and gas pre-tax loss improved over the third quarter due to higher commodity prices.

The company’s CEO Vicki Hollub said, “We remain committed to strengthening our balance sheet and transitioned into 2021 with an improved financial position by achieving our 2020 divestiture target, reducing debt and successfully extending debt maturities.” (See Occidental Petroleum stock analysis on TipRanks)

Earlier on Jan. 21, Truist Financial analyst Neal Dingmann raised the stock’s price target to $25 (5.6% downside potential) from $11 but maintained a Hold rating. In a note to investors, Dingmann said that the company’s operations and free cash flows are improving, but he still remains concerned about its “mountains of debt.”

Overall, the rest of the Street has a cautious outlook on the stock, with a Hold consensus rating based on 10 Holds, 3 Buys and 1 Sell. The average analyst price target of $22.35 implies downside potential of about 15.6% to current levels. Shares have declined by about 35.1% over the past year.

The TipRanks’ stock investors tool shows that investors currently have a Very Negative stance on OXY.

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