Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN), may have set the bar for other players in the industry with its recent release of its second quarter returns on Friday. Oil and gas prices all over the world have been inconsistent in the recent past following a heavy slump in worldwide trends. As such, most people were apprehensive about what to expect in the quarterly returns of the oil companies and South Western Energy had the ‘misfortune’ of being the first in line to announce its returns.
However, market expectations did not scare the oil and gas giant from coming out with a roar when it made its announcement. The company, which has $6.8 Billion market capitalization announced results that proved a slight markup to the expectations of market experts. This could be attributed to the fact that world oil prices showed a marked recovery in May, before a slight slump in July and the company seems to have made the most of the favorable conditions.
The results announced on Friday provided a significant boost to investor confidence in the company and also in the oil and gas industry as a whole- as was clearly evident in share trading activities after the announcement. By the next afternoon, South Western Energy shares had escalated by 12% and its share prices rose by 9.5% above Thursday’s price of $14.7.
Other big players in the industry who are yet to release their results for the second quarter of the year also enjoyed significant benefits riding on the achievements of South Western Energy. Chesapeake Energy, for instance, saw significant activity in the trade of its own shares which rose by 8.5% to rest at $5.39 on Friday evening following the announcement by SWN.
But things may not be quite as rosy as SWN may want investors to think- if the opinions of other independent market analysts are anything to go by. According to Jefferies Analysts, things may yet get tougher for the company before they can get better even though the latter’s plan to increase by 5 more rigs could serve as a significant boost. It should also be noted that South Western Energy also reported an adjusted loss of 9 cents for every share sold.
