Frontier Oil (NYSE:FTO) announced today that it reversed prior-year losses to post a third quarter profit on increased output and improved margins.
Despite a fire that caused reduced output at its Cheyenne refinery, the Texas-based oil refiner managed to process more oil during the quarter on increased output at its El Dorado refinery. The company processed on average 180,605 barrels per day (bpd) during the third quarter, up from 177,741 bpd in Q3 of 2009.
The company incurred $6.1 million for fire-related repairs at the Cheyenne refinery.
Frontier also benefitted from an improvement in its crack spread, the profit margin on breaking down crude oil into other petroleum products. Frontier’s crack spread increased by 32% year-over-year in the third quarter to $10.51 per barrel.
For the third quarter, Frontier reported a profit of $8.3 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, compared to a loss of $8.8 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, for the year-ago period. Revenue grew by about 18% to $1.4 billion.
Analysts estimated that the company would earn 4 cents per share on revenue of $1.27 billion.
Frontier’s better than expected results prompted the company’s shares to rally 5.8% to trade at $14.39 as of 11 am ET.
At quarter end, Frontier had working capital of $546.7 million and long term debt of $348 million.
