Natural gas producer CNX Gas Corp. profit soars 55 percent in 2nd quarter, but miss Wall Street estimates

Natural gas producer CNX Gas Corp. profit soars 55 percent in 2nd quarter, but miss Wall Street estimates

Natural gas producer CNX Gas Corp. has just published a report saying that profit soared 55 percent in the second quarter on record production, but results came in below Wall Street estimates.

CNX, which extracts methane gas from coal beds in the Appalachian Basin, said it made $64.3 million, or 42 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $41.5 million, or 27 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 54 percent to $205.8 million in the quarter, from $133.7 million a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for profit of 47 cents per share on revenue of $180 million.

CNX stock fell 44 cents to $31.21 in afternoon trading, recovering after earlier dropping as much as 5.4 percent. The shares have traded between $25.50 and $45.51 the past year.

The company said it produced 18.8 billion cubic feet of gas during the quarter, up 26 percent from a year ago, and said it now expects to product 73 billion cubic feet for 2008, up 25 percent from 2007.

The company received an average $9.63 per thousand feet of gas for the quarter, up $1.89 from the year-ago quarter.

The company, 82 percent owned by coal miner Consol Energy Inc., was hurt in the quarter by a $1.2 million charge associated with the registration of carbon credits on the climate exchange.

Year to date, CNX has recorded a profit of $114.2 million, or 75 cents per share, compared with $74.5 million, or 49 cents per share last year. Revenue rose to $366.4 million compared with $249 million last year.

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