After reporting a profit for the fourth quarter of 2017, Tulsa-based Williams reported this week a $572 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2018. It also reported a loss of $156 million for all of 2018 compared to 2017.
The per share loss came to 47 cents for the fourth quarter and 16 cents a share for the full-year 2018.
On a per-share basis, the Tulsa company said it had a loss of 47 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 19 cents per share.
Wall Street was left disappointed because the results did not meeting the expectations of analysts who predicted earnings of 22 cents a share for Williams.
The loss came after Williams posted revenue of $2.2 billion in the period, which was also lower than the predictions of the Wall Street experts. For the year, Williams reported a loss of $155 million or 16 cents a share while revenue was reported as $8.69 billion.
Still, shares in Williams Cos. have risen 22 percent since the beginning of 2019 while the Standard and Poor’s 500 index saw a nearly 10 percent increase.
Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer, made the following comments:
“Once again in 2018, our consistent natural gas-focused strategy delivered as expected with solid and predictable growth. In fact, our 2018 Adjusted EBITDA was a new record even in the face of asset sales totaling $4.6 billion over the past two and a half years that dramatically reduced commodity exposure and improved leverage metrics for WMB.”
Click here to read entire 4Q report.
