After his company reported at more than $239 million second quarter loss, Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm remains optimistic about the remainder of 2020.
“Despite headwinds faced this year, now is not the time to count out U.S. independent producers from being key future net exporters of crude,” he told investors and analysts during a conference call held following this week’s release of the company’s earnings report.
“Recent global crude oil inventory data, initial demand recovery and anecdotal evidence from industry participants suggest supply and demand are rebalancing,” said Hamm.
He said the oil and gas industry might continue to see near-term volatility, but he believes ongoing inventory rebalancing in the second half of the year will position Continental for 2021 and beyond.
“While market demand continues to recover, times of uncertainty can create substantial opportunity. In fact, our current share price reflects such an opportunity and uncommon value. My recent purchase demonstrates my confidence in our teams, our assets and Continental’s future potential to deliver meaningful shareholder value. There is no management team more aligned with shareholders than Continental’s,” added Hamm.
The recent purchase he made was in late June when the company revealed Hamm had purchased 4,736,264 shares of Continental common stock on the open market from June 22, 2020 to June 25, 2020 at market prices. It brought Hamm’s total holdings as of June 25 to 289,659,385 shares or nearly 79.3% of Continental’s total common shares.
On Monday, Continental reported a net loss of $239.3 million or 66 cents a diluted share. Credit the COVID-19 pandemic for much of the loss, a pandemic that Hamm took note of during the conference call.
He explained that 97% of the company’s employees are back in the office or in the field after the company adopted “intense testing and workplace safety protocol.”
” I am very proud of our employees for upcoming the challenges faced with COVID-19 after what we have gained in one of the most volatile quarters in this industry. We welcome the new phase of thinking about COVID-19 as the country enters a lower mortality rate experience due to better patient treatment with more effective drugs and a post vaccine thought process of application to the most vulnerable populus,” said Hamm in his opening remarks.