Oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy (CTRA) on Thursday delivered a top-and -bottom-line beat for the first quarter, while reiterating its commitment to return at least half of its free cash flow to shareholders like us. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 increased 6% year-over-year, to $1.78 billion, beating analysts’ forecasts of $1.61 billion, according to estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Adjusted diluted earnings-per-share (EPS) fell by 14% on the year prior, to 87 cents, but still outpaced analysts’ predictions of 70 cents per share, Refinitiv data showed. Bottom line Coterra’s realized prices for its first-quarter oil sales came in a tad below expectations, but that proved inconsequential, as strong production and low costs resulted in better-than expected earnings and cash-flow generation. Free cash flow is a particularly important metric for Coterra because the company’s management remains committed to returning at least 50% to shareholders through a base dividend and share repurchases. This was a strong performance across the board and we look forward to hearing more from management on the results. Coterra is scheduled to host a post-earnings conference call on Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET. Capital allocation Coterra said it plans to return a total of $420 million to shareholders, representing about 76% of its free cash flow in the first quarter. Of that, $152 million will be distributed through a 20 cent-per-share dividend, to be paid out on June 9, while the remaining $268 million will be returned to investors via share repurchases. Annualizing that $420 million figure results in a yield of just over 9%, based on the company’s roughly $18.50 billion market capitalization as of Thursday’s close. First-quarter production The stellar production results not only exceeded the high end of managements guidance — in terms of total production, as well as for oil and gas distinctly — but also outpaced analysts’ forecasts. Outlook Looking ahead, guidance for both the second quarter and full year 2023 was largely in line with expectations. Notably, Coterra lowered its full-year expectation for free cash flow by $300 million, largely due to a $400 million reduction in its forecast for operating cash flow. But the new target was still slightly ahead of analysts’ predictions. The downward revision isn’t surprising, given natural gas prices have come under significant pressure since the start of the year. Accordingly, Coterra reduced its full-year price assumption for natural gas to $2.89 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), from a previous estimate of $3.50 per MMBtu. The company reiterated its expectation for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude to average $76 a barrel for the full year. The price of natural gas, which has fallen roughly 37% year-to-date, closed out Thursday at $2.30 per MMBtu. WTI has fallen more than 17% from its 2023 high last month, settling Thursday at $68.56 a barrel. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long CTRA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas.
Angus Mordant | Reuters
Oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy (CTRA) on Thursday delivered a top-and -bottom-line beat for the first quarter, while reiterating its commitment to return at least half of its free cash flow to shareholders like us.
Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
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The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
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Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
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The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
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