Chevron's Stock Falls After Results Miss Expectations

Chevron Corp.'s stock slumped 1.3% in premarket trade Friday, after the oil giant reported first-quarter results that missed expectations amid a sharp drop in oil and natural gas prices. The company said it swung to a loss of $725 million, or 39 cents a share, in the latest quarter, after reporting earnings of $2.57 billion, or $1.37 a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet per-share loss consensus was 17 cents. Revenue fell to $23.55 billion from $34.56 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $24.50 billion. The average sales price per barrel of crude oil and natural gas liquids in the U.S. tumbled to $26 from $43 a year ago, while international prices dropped to $29 from $46. "Our upstream business was impacted by a more than 35% decline in crude oil prices," said Chief Executive John Watson. "Our downstream operations continued to perform well, although overall industry conditions and margins this quarter were weaker than a year ago." The stock has climbed 14% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.6%.