Karishma Vanjani
Venture Global stock moved up sharply midday Tuesday, reversing a double-digit drop. Lifting the liquefied natural-gas exporter were an amended contract and management's optimism on new deals.
Shares fell as much as 12%, then spiked more than 10% to $10.93. The company went public in January.
Venture Global, on Tuesday morning, posted first-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, far below the 26-cents call of Wall Street analysts tracked by FactSet. Venture Global's fourth-quarter were below Wall Street's expectations as well.
The earnings combined with the company's decision to trim its annual guidance for adjusted Ebitda -- earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization -- probably pulled down the share price earlier in the day.
Venture said it expects adjusted Ebitda of $6.4 billion to $6.8 billion. In March, Venture expected $6.8 billion to $7.4 billion.
Sentiment reversed as investors digested other details in the earnings report. For one, adjusted Ebitda for the latest quarter at $1.35 billion was above the FactSet consensus of $1.33 billion. Revenue at $2.9 billion also beat the $2.65 billion expected by analysts.
News on Venture Global's CP2 project, which is an expansion of a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, probably also contributed to the stock's turnaround.
An existing customer, New Fortress Energy, increased its 20-year sales and purchase agreement with Venture Global to 1.5 million metric tons a year (MTPA) from 1 million metric tons.
Venture Global management also said "we're very active in a significant number of negotiations for long-term contracts at this point, mostly all 20-year terms."
Environmental advocates have criticized CP2's impact on the fisheries, but a faster pace of contract confirmations is good for the stock.
"The ability to further contract the project has been a key concern and the upsized SPA disclosed in the 10Q [form] appears to be a positive first step," Citi's analyst Spiro Douni wrote.
Douni reiterated his Neutral/High risk rating on the stock. His target price is $11.
Goldman John Mackay kept his Buy recommendation and expects the stock price to hit $20.
Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com.
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May 13, 2025 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
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