Weak Earnings Crushed These Energy Stocks This Week

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Crude oil didn't do a whole lot this week, ending down roughly 1%, just below $45 per barrel. But, that doesn't mean energy stocks took a breather, in fact, it was a pretty busy week in the energy patch with a boatload of

companies reporting earnings. Those reports fueled some big moves among energy stocks,

though much of it was to the downside. 

What:Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) slumped more than 16% this week.

So What: Key driver: Weak earnings Western Refining earned $0.13 per

share during the first quarter, which missed estimates by $0.06 per share

The company was impacted by lower than normal gasoline margins

Results were also impacted by narrow crude oil differentials and weak distillate margins

Now What: The company did say that the

second quarter started off well thanks to strong gasoline demand and that margins had recovered from their lows

Key takeaway: Investors were expecting more and punished Western Refining for not living up to their expectations

What:Matrix Service (NASDAQ: MTRX) dropped 20.4% this week.

So What: Key driver: Weak earnings and

reduced guidance Matrix Service reported

earnings of $0.16 per share, which missed estimates by $0.13 per share

Weak market conditions weighed on the company’s Industrial and Oil, Gas & Chemicals segments

Now What: As a result of its poor results, and

the continued weak market conditions due to low commodity prices, Matrix reduced its full-year outlook

Both revenue and earnings guidance were revised lower

Key takeaway: Investors don’t like it when companies miss guidance, and abhor it when they reduce guidance

What:Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) fell 20.5% this week.

So What: Key driver: Sell the news After nearly doubling over

the past three months, Chesapeake Energy gave back some of those gains after releasing its first quarter results

Its earnings were actually in line with expectations

Now What: Further, the company announced

a $470 million asset sale, putting it well on its way to hitting its full-year asset sale target

Finally, costs and production were ahead of guidance

Key takeaway: While Chesapeake Energy gave investors everything they could possibly want, they’d bid the stock up too far too fast for it to matter

What:

Archrock (NYSE: AROC) plunged 26.3% this week.

So What: Key driver: Dividend

reduction and a weak operational update

Archrock announced it was reducing its dividend by 50%

This was primarily due to the leverage concerns of its MLP, Archrock Partners, which also cut its payout by 50%

Now What: The company also noted that

its compression revenue continues to fall, down 6.8% from last quarter and 12.9% from the year-ago quarter

Key takeaway: Investors don’t like to see their dividends being cut, nor revenue continuing to decline

What:

Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) plunged 29.3% this week.

So What: Key driver: Weak earnings and

an analyst downgrade Weatherford reported a loss of

$0.29 per share, which missed expectations by $0.03 per share

Revenue of $1.59 billion was also light, down 43% year-over-year and $70 million below expectations

Now What: The company also reduced its

capex and cash flow forecast The poor results and weak

forecast caused analysts at Stephens to downgrade the stock to underweight

Key takeaway: The company’s turnaround plan just doesn’t seem to be working

This could be the next billion-dollar iSecret