AMSTERDAM, April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Core
Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) announced that it now expects first
quarter 2010 earnings per diluted share (EPS) to range between
$1.35 and $1.38, exceeding prior
guidance of $1.20 to $1.25.
First quarter 2010 net income is expected to range between
$31,650,000 and $32,350,000, and
revenue is expected to be approximately $185,000,000. The anticipated Q1 2010
ranges for EPS, net income, and revenue would produce increases on
a year-over-year and sequential-quarter basis. Operating
margins are expected to increase to approximately 27%, with
sequential quarterly incremental margins exceeding 50%.
During the first quarter of 2010, the Company bought back
703,902 shares. Core anticipates that year-over-year, first
quarter-ending cash balances increased by over $65,000,000 to over $138,000,000. The Company expects the first
quarter 2010 effects of foreign currency translation to be
immaterial and the effective tax rate to be within the 31% to 32%
range.
Business Update
The improvements in Core's anticipated quarterly results are due
to stronger than expected performances from each of the Company's
three operating segments, especially Production Enhancement and
Reservoir Management. Reservoir Description operations
continued to benefit from high volumes of core analyses, reservoir
fluids phase-behavior studies, and crude oil testing, inspection,
distillation, fractionation, and characterization projects from
both offshore South Atlantic margins, North Africa, the Middle East, including high-margin projects in
both northern and southern Iraq,
and Asia-Pacific regions.
Production Enhancement realized unprecedented demand for its
ZeroWash® and SpectraChem® Plus+ fracture diagnostics technologies,
which are used to optimize multi-stage fracture stimulation
programs. Operating companies are combining large proprietary
core analysis data sets, including extensive quantitative rock
mechanics data, with fracture diagnostics technologies provided by
Core Lab to stimulate unconventional natural gas and oil shale
reservoirs. Fracture stimulation programs based on measured
petrophysical and geological data sets are proving to be much more
effective than programs based on low-tech geometric designs.
Once a formation has been fracture-stimulated, Core's
SpectraScan® technology is used to determine which specific
perforations did, or did not, have enough proppant injected to hold
the producing formation open and permit hydrocarbon flow into the
wellbore.
In addition, the Company's patented and proprietary HERO™ (High
Efficiency Reservoir Optimization) line of perforating charges and
gun systems has increased market share in North American natural
gas and oil shale reservoirs and has increased market penetration
in Middle East and Asia-Pacific perforating markets.
Reservoir Management operations, which continued to expand
joint-industry projects in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, and
Marcellus shales, are expected to post its second most profitable
quarter in Company history, with operating margins exceeding 35%.
Reservoir Management also initiated a joint-industry study of
the Montney Shale, and its lateral equivalents, in the Horn River
basin in northeastern British
Columbia and western Alberta,
Canada. Core also has been requested by a number of
oil companies to initiate a joint-industry study of the fractured,
oil-prone Niobrara shale in the northern Denver-Julesburg and Powder River basins. Work
continues on the numerous joint-industry projects of both South
Atlantic coastal margins.
Second Quarter 2010 Earnings Guidance
For the second quarter of 2010, Core expects revenue to range
between $185,000,000 and
$190,000,000, with EPS in the $1.39
to $1.44 range, tempered by seasonal conditions in
Canada and the anticipated slowing
of North American natural gas drilling and completion activities.
Operating margins are expected to be approximately 28%,
equaling the highest ever reported by Core, with year-over-year
quarterly incremental margins of up to approximately 35%.
This second quarter guidance excludes any gains or losses that
may originate from the repurchase of outstanding debt, any effects
of foreign currency translations, and assumes an effective tax rate
between 31% and 32%. In addition, second quarter guidance
does not consider shares that may be repurchased by the Company or
shares that may be added to the share count relative to amounts
outstanding on Core's Senior Exchangeable Notes.
A first quarter earnings press release will be issued after
market close on 28 April 2010, and
the Company has scheduled a conference call to begin at
7:30 a.m. CDT on Thursday,
29 April 2010. To listen to the call,
please go to Core's website at www.corelab.com at least fifteen
minutes prior to the start of the call.
For those who are not available to listen to the live webcast, a
replay will be available on Core's website shortly after the call
and will remain on the site for 10 days.
Core Laboratories N.V. (www.corelab.com) is a leading provider
of proprietary and patented reservoir description, production
enhancement, and reservoir management services used to optimize
petroleum reservoir performance. The Company has over 70
offices in more than 50 countries and is located in every major
oil-producing province in the world.
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding the
future revenues, profitability, business strategies and
developments of the Company made in reliance upon the safe harbor
provisions of Federal securities law. The Company's outlook
is subject to various important cautionary factors, including risks
and uncertainties related to the oil and natural gas industry,
business conditions, international markets, international political
climates and other factors as more fully described in the Company's
2009 Form 10-K filed on 19 February
2010, and in other securities filings. These important
factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ
materially from those described in these forward-looking
statements. Such statements are based on current expectations of
the Company's performance and are subject to a variety of factors,
some of which are not under the control of the Company. Because the
information herein is based solely on data currently available, and
because it is subject to change as a result of changes in
conditions over which the Company has no control or influence, such
forward-looking statements should not be viewed as assurance
regarding the Company's future performance. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward looking
statement to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after
the date of this press release.
SOURCE Core Laboratories