Whiting Petroleum (WLL) Weak On High Volume
Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer.
Trade-Ideas LLC identified
(
) as a weak on high relative volume candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Whiting Petroleum as such a stock due to the following factors:
- WLL has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $378.9 million.
- WLL has traded 1.2 million shares today.
- WLL is trading at 2.81 times the normal volume for the stock at this time of day.
- WLL is trading at a new low 7.03% below yesterday's close.
'Weak on High Relative Volume' stocks are worth watching because major volume moves tend to indicate underlying activity such as material stock news, analyst downgrades, insider selling, selling from 'superinvestors,' or that hedge funds and traders are piling out of a stock ahead of a catalyst. Regardless of the impetus behind the price and volume action, when a stock moves with strength and volume it can indicate the start of a new trend on which early investors can capitalize (or avoid losses by trimming weak positions). In the event of a well-timed trading opportunity, combining technical indicators with fundamental trends and a disciplined trading methodology should help you take the first steps towards investment success.
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More details on WLL:
Whiting Petroleum Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, acquires, explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in the Rocky Mountains and Permian Basin regions of the United States. WLL has a PE ratio of 72.4. Currently there are 18 analysts that rate Whiting Petroleum a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 5 rate it a hold.
The average volume for Whiting Petroleum has been 8.8 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Whiting has a market cap of $6.4 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. The stock has a beta of 2.01 and a short float of 9.7% with 1.13 days to cover. Shares are up 19.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Friday.
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Analysis:
rates Whiting Petroleum as a
. Among the primary strengths of the company is its expanding profit margins over time. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, feeble growth in the company's earnings per share and deteriorating net income.
Highlights from the ratings report include:
- Despite the weak revenue results, WLL has outperformed against the industry average of 19.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 4.3%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
- The gross profit margin for WHITING PETROLEUM CORP is currently very high, coming in at 71.37%. Regardless of WLL's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, WLL's net profit margin of -52.00% significantly underperformed when compared to the industry average.
- Net operating cash flow has declined marginally to $466.00 million or 5.01% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite a decrease in cash flow of 5.01%, WHITING PETROLEUM CORP is in line with the industry average cash flow growth rate of -11.94%.
- WHITING PETROLEUM CORP 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. Earnings per share have declined over the last two years. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, WHITING PETROLEUM CORP reported lower earnings of $0.81 versus $3.07 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 177.8% in earnings (-$0.63 versus $0.81).
- The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 496.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from -$59.27 million to -$353.68 million.
- You can view the full Whiting Petroleum Ratings Report.
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