Whiting Petroleum's stock suffering a record plunge after slashing workforce, another surprise loss

Shares of Whiting Petroleum Corp. plunged 38% toward the biggest one-day decline since it went public 16 years ago and a record low in midday trading Thursday, after the oil and gas company announced massive job cuts after reporting a third straight quarter in which it reported a surprise loss, as well as revenue that missed its expectations, and lowered its full-year production guidance. Trading volume of 19.2 million shares was already more than triple the full-day average. The company said it reduced its workforce by 33%, or 254 employees, including 94 executive and corporate positions. The layoffs announced late Wednesday were a part of a restructuring aimed at $50 million in annual cost savings. The company swung to a net loss of $5.7 million, or 6 cents a share, from income of $2.1 million, or 2 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the adjusted loss per share was 28 cents, compared with the FactSet EPS consensus of 28 cents. Revenue fell 19% to $426.3 million, missing expectations of $456.3 million, while production increased 0.7%. For 2019, Whiting cut its guidance range for millions of barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) production to 45.0 to 46.5 from 46.7 to 47.7. The stock has now plummeted 58% over the past three months while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has lost 4.0% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.9%.

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