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U.S. Silica (SLCA) Q4 Earnings Trail, Revenues Top Estimates

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U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. recorded a profit of $72 million or 88 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2017 against a net loss of $6.9 million or 9 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Barring one-time items, U.S. Silica’s adjusted earnings came in at 51 cents per share in the quarter, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents.

Revenues for the reported quarter were $360.6 million, a 98% year-over-year jump. It surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $359.2 million.

Full-Year 2017 Results

For 2017, U.S. Silica reported net income of $145.2 million or $1.77 per share against net loss of $41.1 million or 63 cents per share in 2016.

Total revenues jumped a whopping 122% to $1.24 billion.  

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. Quote

Segment Highlights

Revenues for the Oil & Gas division were $306 million in the quarter, a roughly 123% year-over-year surge. Overall sales volume soared 52% in the quarter to around 3.171 million tons from 2.081 million tons in the prior-year quarter.

Revenues for the Industrial and Specialty Products division came in at $54.5 million in the quarter, up roughly 20% year over year. Overall sales volume rose 7% year over year to around 0.851 million tons.

Financials

U.S. Silica had $384.6 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2017, down roughly 45.9% year over year.

Long-term debt dipped roughly 0.3% to $506.7 million and total debt was $511.2 million. Capital spending in the fourth quarter was $95.1 million.

Outlook

U.S. Silica expects its capital expenditures for 2018 to be in the range of $300-$350 million, mainly due to continued investments in Sandbox and completion of capacity expansion projects started last year.

For the first quarter, the company expects flat volumes and pricing in the Oil & Gas segment compared to fourth-quarter 2017. Per the company, severe winter weather has resulted in delay in completion activities and also caused disruptions in the customer supply chain.

Price Performance

U.S. Silica’s shares have lost 26.4% over the last three months, significantly underperforming 10.3% growth recorded by its industry.


Zacks Rank & Key Picks

U.S. Silica currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Steel Dynamics, Inc. (STLD - Free Report) , The Mosaic Company (MOS - Free Report) and United States Steel Corporation (X - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Steel Dynamics has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12%. Its shares have soared 39.9% over the last six months.

Mosaic has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9.5%. Its shares have moved up 36.1% over the past six months.

U.S. Steel has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8%. Its shares have rallied 72.2% over the last six months.

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