Unit 1Q Profit Doubles, Misses Forecast

Tuesday, May 3rd 2005, 1:10 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Unit Corp., which conducts onshore drilling of oil and natural gas, on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit doubled as the company realized increases in the number of drilling rigs in use and higher overall production.

Quarterly income was $30.7 million, or 67 cents per share, compared to $15.5 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $171.6 million from $101.6 million last year.

However, the per share results missed Wall Street expectations. On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial reported earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $159.8 million.

Revenue increased from last year and surpassed expectations due to increases in the number of drilling rigs in use and day rates, as well as increases in the production of oil and natural gas and the prices received for those commodities. Drilling rig utilization averaged 99.3 drilling rigs operating during the first quarter of 2005 against 81.7 drilling rigs operating in the year-ago period.