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EQT Corp. (NYSE:EQT) finished +3.9% in Thursday’s trading despite missing Q4 adjusted earnings estimates ahead of a potentially difficult 2023.
Q4 net income slipped to $1.7B, or $4.67/share, from $1.8B, or $4.77/share, in the year-earlier quarter, while production fell 13% to 459B cfe from 527B cfe a year ago.
EQT (EQT) continues to wait for antitrust regulators to clear its $5.2B acquisition of Tug Hill’s upstream and midstream assets in West Virginia, management said on the post-earnings conference call, as reported by Natural Gas Intelligence.
The company is working to comply with a second request from regulators seeking more information on the deal, but CEO Toby Rice said the company’s M&A strategy for “low cost, high quality” assets would continue.
According to Natural Gas Intelligence, the CEO said it could take time for balance to return to the natural gas market and provide more support for prices.
“What you’re seeing with us this year is putting a plan in place that will get out production capacity back to a 500B cf per quarter run rate, [which] will give us the ability to respond in real time if we continue to see gas prices decline,” Rice reportedly said on the call.
EQT’s (EQT) full-year production finished roughly flat Y/Y at 1.94T cfe, and the company aims to produce 1.9T-2T cfe in FY 2023.
The company said it plans $1.7B-$1.9B in capital spending for FY 2023, excluding Tug Hill, up from $1.3B-$1.45B guidance at the same time last year.
EQT (EQT) also has entered into hedge positions for 2023 and 2024 covering 62% of its production with weighted average floors of $3.37/MMBtu and 10% with weighted average floors of $4.20/MMBtu, which it said encapsulates the volatility in the natural gas market.
The company reported a $4.6B loss on derivatives for 2022, but overall revenues for the full year rose to $7.5B vs. $3B in the previous year.
EQT (EQT) shares are flat so far this year but have gained 36% during the past year.
