Most people are studying their energy bills and looking for ways to save. But energy companies like Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) are feeling pretty good about things. In fact, its stock jumped in Tuesday afternoon trading thanks to an absolutely fantastic earnings report and some welcome plans for shareholders.
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Peabody brought in $3.89 per share, which blasted analyst consensus of just $2.16 per share. Revenue also delivered a win, though not quite so pronounced, coming in at $1.63 billion. That was up 29.4% over the same time in the preceding year and beat analyst expectations calling for $1.37 billion. Perhaps best of all, Peabody managed to top a company record, bringing in $580 million in free cash flow.
In addition, Peabody noted that it retired all of its senior secured debt in the last quarter and is getting the last bits together to put up a “shareholder return program.” The details remain unclear, but shareholders should be happy to see a company that’s in a good position to return capital. We might be looking at a nascent dividend stock in the making.
Peabody stock did well today, but it’s also been doing well for the last five days, trending upward in that entire time. So far, it’s up 12.67% in the last five days.
