Alpha Natural Soars After Earnings, Buffett

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On the same day that stocks in and around the railroad sector -- including coal -- appeared to be getting a Buffett bounce, Alpha Natural Resources(ANR Quote) was soaring by more than 7% after beating third-quarter forecasts.

Alpha, which stands as the country's third biggest coal producer after closing its merger with Foundation Coal in July, was adding $2.49 to reach $36.78 in the afternoon.

On Tuesday, Alpha said it swung to a loss of $19.5 million, or 19 cents a share, versus an income of $67.4 million, or 93 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. But after excluding items -- chiefly costs related to the merger -- Alpha Natural reported an adjusted income at 47 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the operation to show 38 cents a share.

Alpha posted sales of $729.2 million. In the year-ago quarter, before results from the merger were added, total revenues came to $688.4 million.

While Alpha battled a harsh market in thermal coal, Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield noted that metallurgical coal demand appeared to have "picked up markedly," while order flow has also gone higher. As a result, the company increased its outlook for 2010 metallurgical coal shipments to between 10 to 12 million tons. The previous forecast range was between 9 to 11 million tons.