Improved earnings and natural gas production for Gulfport Energy Corporation led the company to expand its stock repurchasing program.
The company reported Tuesday its first quarter financial results showing $235 million of adjusted EBITDA.
The company also said it was moving to expand its stock repurchasing program from $100 million to $200 million.
In the quarter, Gulfport generated $253.7 million of net cash provided by operating activities and $116.8 million of free cash flow. However, the company also reported a $492 million net loss.
The company updated its full year 2022 outlook by increasing expected capital expenditures to nearly $400 million. It also increased its forecasted free cash flow generation to a range of $375 million to $425 million at the current strip prices.
“Gulfport reported strong first quarter 2022 results, driven by the continued outperformance of our 2021 development program, excellent uptime during the winter months and the addition of five new SCOOP wells performing above expectations,” commented Tim Cutt, CEO of Gulfport.
He said as a result the company generated significant free cash flow which allowed Gulfport to move ahead with its common stock repurchase program.
“Our outlook for free cash flow continues to improve, despite the growing inflationary effects that has led us to increase our capital outlook for the year. Our development program builds during the second quarter, before peaking in the third, which results in executing a high percentage of our program at higher service rates.”
As of May 2, 2022, the Company had repurchased 748 thousand shares of common stock at a weighted-average share price of $84.26 during 2022, totaling approximately $63 million in aggregate.
Gulfport’s net daily production for the first quarter of 2022 averaged 1,008.1 MMcfe per day, primarily consisting of 779.1 MMcfe per day in the Utica and 228.9 MMcfe per day in the SCOOP. For the first quarter of 2022, Gulfport’s net daily production mix was comprised of approximately 92% natural gas, 6% natural gas liquids (“NGL”) and 2% oil and condensate.
As of March 31, 2022, Gulfport had approximately $5.9 million of cash and cash equivalents, $25.0 million of borrowings under its New Credit Facility, $113.2 million of letters of credit outstanding and $550 million of outstanding 2026 Senior Notes.
Gulfport’s liquidity at March 31, 2022, totaled approximately $568 million, comprised of the $5.9 million of cash and cash equivalents and approximately $561.8 million of available borrowing capacity under its New Credit Facility.
Gulfport recently completed its spring borrowing base redetermination and on May 2, 2022, the company entered into the first amendment to its credit agreement governing the New Credit Facility. The amendment, among other things, increased the borrowing base under the New Credit Facility from $850 million to $1 billion, with aggregate elected lender commitments to remain at $700 million.
In March 2022, the company paid approximately $1.5 million in cash dividends on its preferred stock.
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