Occidental Petroleum Corp Shares Underperforms

Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares increased 0.11% higher to $26.87 Thursday. This proved to be an all-around great trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX rising 0.30% to 4,460.83 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising 0.04% to 35,499.85.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. closed $6.63 short of its 52-week high ($33.50), which the company reached on July 1st. The stock outperformed some of its competitors Thursday, as Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM fell 0.23% to $57.35, Chevron Corp. CVX fell 0.20% to $102.64, and ConocoPhillips COP fell 0.26% to $57.04.

Occidental Petroleum Corp trading volume (9.2 M) remained 7.3 million below its 50-day average volume of 16.6 M.This was the stock’s third consecutive day of gains. The U.S. shale producer reported a second-quarter loss, after preferred stock dividends, of $97 million, or 10 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, it reported a profit of 32 cents a share.

Net sales rose to $5.96 billion from $2.93 billion a year earlier. The company’s second-quarter loss narrowed sharply on a better-than-expected sales growth driven by the oil and gas price recovery. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a break-even profit, or an adjusted profit of a penny a share, and $5.87 billion in sales.The company said it generated a free cash flow of about $2 billion and said that, excluding items affecting comparability, oil and gas results improved from the previous quarter due to higher commodity prices and sales volumes.