Patriot Coal beats by $0.43, misses on revs; updates production data points
Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.08 per share, $0.43 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of ($0.35); revenues rose 5.0% year/year to $528.2 mln vs the $548 mln consensus. Higher revenues in the 2010 quarter compared with the prior year largely resulted from higher average selling prices, partially offset by lower sales volume. For 2011, the co currently anticipates sales volume in the range of 30-32 mln tons. This includes metallurgical coal sales of 8.0-8.4 mln tons, a meaningful increase over the 6.9 mln tons sold in 2010. Based on this volume, cost per ton is expected to be in the range of $63-67 for the Appalachia segment, reflecting the higher met production and transition to several new mines. Cost per ton for the Illinois Basin segment is expected to be in the $40-43 range.
