Petrobras (PBR) Stock Retreats as Oil Prices Slip

Petrobras (PBR) stock is declining after oil prices dropped following a build-up in U.S. crude oil stockpiles.
By Amanda Gomez ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Petrobras (PBR) - Get Report stock is falling by 6.55% to $5.20 in late morning trading on Wednesday, after an increase in U.S. crude oil inventories lowered oil prices.

WTI crude is down 1.05% to $42.42 per barrel, while Brent crude is declining 1.3% to $45.52 per barrel this morning, according to the CNBC.com index.

U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles increased by 1 million barrels to 488.2 million barrels during the week ended November 20, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Domestic production, however, declined to 9.17 million barrels per day last week from 9.18 million barrels per day the previous week.

Brent, the international benchmark for crude oil prices, is trading lower after OPEC said it will not reduce production if non-OPEC countries do not cut production as well, Reuters reports.

The organization of 12 oil-producing countries has been pumping oil at record levels for a year in an attempt to defend its market share, Reuters added.

Shares of Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras, a state-run oil and gas company, are also trading in the red following the arrest of two key political and financial figures in Brazil that sent the country's currency down more than 2%.

Senator Delcidio do Amaral, the leader of the ruling political party, and BTG Pactual CEO Andre Esteves were arrested for allegedly obstructing a corruption investigation into Petrobras.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA- PETR as a Sell with a ratings score of D. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

We rate PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA- PETR (PBR) a SELL. This is driven by a number of negative factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its disappointing return on equity, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself, deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk and feeble growth in its earnings per share.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

  • Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry and the overall market, PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA- PETR's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
  • The debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34 is relatively high when compared with the industry average, suggesting a need for better debt level management. Even though the debt-to-equity ratio is weak, PBR's quick ratio is somewhat strong at 1.21, demonstrating the ability to handle short-term liquidity needs.
  • Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 46.37%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 91.66% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
  • The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income has significantly decreased by 92.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $2,225.00 million to $171.00 million.
  • PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA- PETR has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA- PETR swung to a loss, reporting -$1.12 versus $1.70 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($0.89 versus -$1.12).
  • You can view the full analysis from the report here: PBR

Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.

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