Aegean Q2 Volume Up 18.5%, But Shares Plunge 18% as Earnings Miss Estimates

E. Nikolas Tavlarios, President of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE: ANW] (Aegean) Monday reported that for the three months ended June 30, 2015 its bunker sales jumped 18.5 percent to 3,150,950 metric tonnes (mt), compared with 2,659,620 mt for the same period in 2014.

However during Tuesday trading the bunker company's share price plunged by almost the same magnitude, down 17.96 percent, as earnings per share (EPS) of $0.15 fell way below the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.26 EPS, and $0.27 EPS estimate from an analyst survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenues also slid dramatically for the quarter, down 30 percent to $1.2 billion from the $1.7 billion recorded in Q2 2014, while net income dipped to $7.1 million from $9.3 million for the period in 2014.

Despite the downbeat result, E. Nikolas Tavlarios, President of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, was positive over the future.

"While we faced headwinds during the quarter, we are entering the second half of 2015 with several growth drivers in place and we expect to further improve our financial performance,"commented .

"Our Fujairah facility is operating at strong utilization levels, and our expanded global operations position the Company for continued growth, success and value creation."

Aegean has made a number of recent expansion moves, most notably taking over several former OW Bunker operations in the U.S. and Germany, and Tavlarios hinted the firm was in a position to expand further should the opportunity arise.

"We are pleased that we have a unique and dynamic business model and strong balance sheet to support strategic expansion opportunities. As the industry improves, Aegean Marine is poised to benefit from our diversification and recent expansion into new markets," he said.

"We remain focused on advancing our position as a leading fuel supplier, enhancing our network by opportunistically expanding our footprint, and ensuring that we meet and exceed the needs of our customers around the world."

In April Ship & Bunker reported Aegean had received an average analyst rating of "strong buy" from four equities research analysts.