Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) reported $6.77 billion in revenue for the quarter ended December 2024, representing a year-over-year decline of 3.6%. EPS of $0.66 for the same period compares to $0.86 a year ago.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.39 billion, representing a surprise of +5.88%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of -4.35%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.69.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Canadian Natural Resources performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• Total production - Average daily production: 1,470,428 BOE/D versus 1,436,480 BOE/D estimated by four analysts on average.
• Production - Primary Heavy Oil per day: 82.13 thousands of barrels of oil versus 81.86 thousands of barrels of oil estimated by three analysts on average.
• Production - Thermal In Situ Oil per day: 276.23 thousands of barrels of oil versus 281.07 thousands of barrels of oil estimated by three analysts on average.
• Production - Oil Sands Mining and Upgrading per day: 534.63 thousands of barrels of oil versus 507.12 thousands of barrels of oil estimated by three analysts on average.
• Production - Pelican Lake Oil per day: 44.04 thousands of barrels of oil versus 45.71 thousands of barrels of oil estimated by three analysts on average.
• Production - North Sea Oil per day: 11.47 thousands of barrels of oil compared to the 11.98 thousands of barrels of oil average estimate based on three analysts.
• Production - North Sea Natural Gas per day: 4 Mcf/D compared to the 1.46 Mcf/D average estimate based on three analysts.
• Production - Offshore Africa Oil per day: 11.94 thousands of barrels of oil versus the three-analyst average estimate of 13.55 thousands of barrels of oil.
• Oil & liquids - Average daily production: 1,090,002 BBL/D versus 1,064,114 BBL/D estimated by three analysts on average.
• Natural gas - Average daily production: 2283 millions of cubic feet versus 2225.38 millions of cubic feet estimated by three analysts on average.
• Production - North America Natural Gas per day: 2,273 Mcf/D versus the three-analyst average estimate of 2,214.17 Mcf/D.
• Production - Offshore Africa Natural Gas per day: 6 Mcf/D versus 9.75 Mcf/D estimated by three analysts on average.

View all Key Company Metrics for Canadian Natural Resources here>>>

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources have returned -11.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -3.5% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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