| Will Natural Resource Partners Survive the Coal Downturn? | |
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We issued an updated research report on Natural Resource Partners L.P. NRP on Aug 14, 2015. Proposals for curbing carbon emissions along with increasing usage of natural gas are affecting the demand for coal in the energy sector. Furthermore, the continuous fall in oil and gas prices is impacting the partnership’s oil and gas operations.
However, favorable conditions in the aggregates market and a positive outlook for steel will mitigate the impact of continuing pressure in the oil and gas, and coal markets.
Houston, TX-based Natural Resource Partners’ second-quarter 2015 earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a wide margin but declined year over year due to higher operational expenses. Its top line also surpassed estimates and surged year over year.
Improving fundamentals in the aggregates market will boost Natural Resource Partners’ performance. In second-quarter 2015, the partnership’s aggregates-related revenues totaled $42.9 million compared to a meager $3.6 million in the prior-year period.
The World Steel Association expects demand for steel to increase by 0.5% in 2015 to 1,544 Mt and 1.4% to 1,565 Mt in 2016. As met coal is one of the key raw materials required for steel production, improvement in steel consumption will subsequently boost met coal demand. This is likely to boost the partnership’s future coal royalty revenues as lessees of coal reserves owned by Natural Resource Partners scale up their met coal production volume.
However, coal is being increasingly replaced by natural gas for power production due to the latter’s clean burning nature and increasing regulatory pressure to curb carbon pollution. This is impacting the partnership’s royalty revenue from its thermal coal assets. Further, declining coal prices will depress margins of Natural Resource’s lessees, so much so they might find it difficult to pay the royalty to the partnership.
Overall softness in coal demand has not only affected Natural Resource Partners but other coal players as well. Peabody Energy Corp. BTU, Arch Coal Inc. ACI and CONSOL Energy Inc. CNX, all reported wider year-over-year losses in the second quarter of 2015. Currently, Natural Resource Partners has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CONSOL ENERGY (CNX): Free Stock Analysis Report ARCH COAL INC (ACI): Free Stock Analysis Report PEABODY ENERGY (BTU): Free Stock Analysis Report NATURAL RSRC LP (NRP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
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Natural Resource Partners L.P.
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CODE : NRP |
ISIN : US63900P1030 |
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ProfilIndicateurs de MarchéVALEUR : Projets & res.Communiqués de PresseRapport annuelRISQUE : Profile actifsContactez la cie |
Natural Resources Partners est une société de production minière basée aux Etats-Unis D'Amerique. Natural Resources Partners détient divers projets d'exploration en USA. Son principal projet en exploration est D.D. SHEPARD en USA. Natural Resources Partners est cotée aux Etats-Unis D'Amerique. Sa capitalisation boursière aujourd'hui est 1,1 milliards US$ (1,0 milliards €). La valeur de son action a atteint son plus bas niveau récent le 24 juillet 2020 à 10,00 US$, et son plus haut niveau récent le 26 avril 2024 à 91,73 US$. Natural Resources Partners possède 12 241 602 actions en circulation. |