Anadarko Profit Craters on Price Drop

HOUSTON (TheStreet) -- It may have come to a net loss, but Anadarko Petroleum(APC Quote) still managed to beat some expectations amid plunging oil and gas prices.

Anadarko swung to a net loss from continuing operations of $224 million, or 47 cents per share. In the year-earlier quarter, the company earned $16 million, or 3 cents per share.

But after adjusting for certain items, Anadarko's loss from continuing operations amounted to 56 cents per share against a profit of $1.76 in the year-earlier quarter.

Total revenues plummeted to $1.75 billion. In last year's second quarter, Anadarko racked up $2.79 billion in sales.

Still, on average, a group of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the company to lose 68 cents per share along with $1.76 billion in revenue.

"We are continuing to drive down costs to better align them with the current commodity-price environment," Anadarko CEO Jim Hackett said in a press release. "Additionally, during the quarter we continued to prudently manage our balance sheet by accessing the capital markets to substantially strengthen our liquidity position."

Most of the plunge in overall sales came off of a 56% drop in gas revenues. Average commodity prices on all products were slashed anywhere between a half to more than two-thirds from last summer's historic highs.

But overall volumes grew to 56 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 50 million in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of Anadarko gained $1.44, or 3%, at $49.64 by the closing bell. It was putting on another 36 cents in after-hours trading.

-- Reported by Sung Moss in New York