National Fuel Gas Q2 Earnings Top Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y

National Fuel Gas Company NFG reported second-quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted operating earnings of $2.39 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.18 by 9.6%. The bottom line also increased 33.5% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of $1.79. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

GAAP earnings for the quarter were $2.37 per share compared with $1.80 in the year-ago quarter.

NFG’s Total Revenues

NFG reported sales of $730 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $783 million by 6.8%. However, the top line increased 15.9% from the prior-year recorded figure of $629.9 million.

NFG’s Segmental Revenues

Utility: Revenues totaled $343.6 million, up 18.4% from $290.2 million in the year-ago quarter.

Exploration and Production and Other Revenues: Revenues totaled $311.9 million, up 17.9% from $264.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

Pipeline and Storage and Gathering: Revenues amounted to $74.4 million, implying a 0.9% decrease from $75.1 million recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Highlights of NFG’s Q2 Release

Total operating expenses increased 8.8% to $412.7 million year over year. This was primarily due to higher purchased gas and operation and maintenance expenses.

Operating income totaled $317.3 million compared with $250.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

Interest expense on long-term debt totaled $39.7 million, up 39.8% from the year-ago figure of $28.4 million.

During the fiscal second quarter, Seneca produced 105.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, up 2.6 Bcf, or 3%, from the prior-year level. Two highly prolific pads that turned in line this year in the EDA (Tioga Utica) were the main drivers behind this increase in production.

NFG’s Financial Highlights

As of March 31, 2025, National Fuel Gas had cash and temporary cash investments of $39.9 million compared with $38.2 million as of Sept. 30, 2024.

Net cash provided by operating activities for the first six months of fiscal 2025 totaled $473.9 million compared with $586.3 million in the year-ago period.

Capital expenditures amounted to $434.3 million in the first six months of fiscal 2025 compared with $481.9 million in the year-ago period.

NFG’s Guidance

NFG has raised its guidance for fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share to $6.75-$7.05 from $6.50-$7.00. This can be attributed to higher expected production and lower unit costs in the Exploration and Production segment for the remainder of the fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $6.97, which is higher than the midpoint of the company’s guided range.

The company expects capital expenditures for fiscal 2025 to be between $885 million and $960 million.
The company’s production guidance for fiscal 2025 is now expected to be 415-425 Bcf compared with the previous projection of 410-425 Bcf.

NFG’s Zacks Rank

National Fuel Gas currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Upcoming Releases

ONE Gas, Inc. OGS is slated to report first-quarter 2025 results on May 5, after market close. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.85 per share.

OGS’ long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 5.56%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter sales is pinned at $803.58 million.

Atmos Energy Corporation ATO is slated to report second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 7, after market close. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $2.89 per share.

ATO’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.19%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 3.9% in the past four quarters.

UGI Corporation UGI is slated to report second-quarter fiscal 2025 results on May 7, after market close. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.80 per share.

UGI’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.2%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 74.8% in the past four quarters.

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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