Analyst Downgrades World Fuel Services to "Sell" Rating

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday May 7, 2015

World Fuel Services Corp (WFS) [NYSE:INT] has been downgraded to "sell" from "hold" by Zacks Investment Research (Zacks), WKRB reports. 

Although WFS reported a "solid" Q1 result with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.83 compared to expectations of $0.82, revenues of $7.34 billion for the first quarter were said to have been below estimates of $9.13 billion. 

Zacks also noted that the company's revenue for the quarter was down 30.4 percent year-over-year, and is expecting the company to post $3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Just last month, market analysts praised the company as being "very well positioned to grow" in the fuel and lubricants supply industry, though some speculated that the company's good fortunes may be a temporary effect of last year's bankruptcy of major player OW Bunker. 

Earlier this week WFS said its 2015 Q1 bunker sales volume of almost 7.7 million metric tonnes was "totally unrelated" to OW Bunker's exit from the market.

WFS also reported that its marine segment had seen gross profit increase 3 percent year-over-year. 

At the same time, WFS CFO Ira M. Birns said that the quarter marked "the eleventh consecutive quarter of positive cash flow from operations."

Earlier this week, Zacks also maintained a "hold" rating on fellow NYSE listed bunker firm Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc.

Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at editor@shipandbunker.com