Oxy’s Quarter Beats Expectations

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Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp rose more than 3 percent on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit.

The Los Angeles oil and natural gas company reported net income of $336 million (45 cents a share) up 79 percent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 2 percent to $6.17 billion.

Adjusted net income was $1.83 a share. Analysts’ surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected adjusted net income of $1.66 a share on revenue of $5.85 billion.

The quarter included a $1.1 billion write-down on the value of company’s U.S. gas properties. Another factor in the earnings was weak domestic oil prices during the quarter, with the price of U.S. crude down 6 percent from a year earlier to an average $88.23 a barrel. Occidental said it expects domestic production growth of 8 percent to 10 percent.

Shares closed up $2.95, or 3.5 percent, to $88.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.