Besides coming in with .12 EPS .02 higher than the consensus of .10 the other important things achieved this quarter are impressive, IMHO 4.50-5 by mid summer, we will see. Definitely a catch on any dips if the bears push IMO.
2019 First-Quarter Highlights
Produced a Company record 75,276 barrels of oil equivalent ("BOE") per day, driven by continued operational efficiency improvements that resulted in 20 completions during the quarter, 33% more than originally anticipated
Reduced combined unit lease operating expenses ("LOE") and unit cash general and administrative expense ("G&A") to $5.42 per BOE in the first quarter of 2019, an approximately 11% decrease from full-year 2018 of $6.07 per BOE, as the Company continued to focus on controllable cash costs in both field operations and corporate-level personnel expenses
Drove down completion costs at the end of the first quarter of 2019, as the Company realized lower prices for in-basin sand and completion services, reducing per well capital costs by approximately $500,000 from originally budgeted amounts and decreasing the Company's per well capital cost to approximately $7 million per well for a 10,000-foot horizontal
Efficiently managed capital expenditures during first-quarter 2019, resulting in a net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.8 times1, which is expected to hold constant throughout 2019 as Laredo begins to generate free cash flow in the second quarter of 2019
"The strategy transition that Laredo committed to late last year is well underway," stated Randy A. Foutch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "During the first quarter, we completed the two remaining packages of tightly-spaced wells and are currently wrapping up completion operations on the first package of wells developed on wider spacing sooner than expected. We have also delivered on our pledge to align personnel costs with activity levels by a recent reduction in force, which cut combined cash, non-cash and capitalized general and administrative costs by approximately 25% on an annualized basis. Most importantly, we have already improved on the plan to operate within cash flow that we put forth a little over two months ago by restructuring our oil hedges, securing additional cash flow to increase activity and substantially accelerating the time frame in which we expect to generate free cash flow while growing oil production."
"Institutional investors have fundamentally changed how they measure success for exploration and production companies over the last few years and we endeavor to listen to all of our shareholder's input on how we can better operate the Company," continued Mr. Foutch. "We have made substantial progress transitioning Laredo from a net asset value accretion philosophy to one focused on measured growth with free cash flow generation and expect to be cash flow neutral for full-year 2019, but recognize there is more work to do. We look forward to continuing our communication with all of our investors as we work together to realize our common goals."
