Cheniere Energy reports third quarter earnings below consensus but revenues show a strong beat–I’m raising my target price to $62

Yesterday Cheniere Energy (LNG) reported a loss for the third quarter of $1.24 a share, 74 cents a share worse that the Wall Street consensus. Revenue climbed 202% hear over year to $1.4 billion against Wall Street projections of $1.27 billion.
 
The company also issued guidance for 2017 and 2018. For 2017 Cheniere Energy projects EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion. That’s a step up from the prior guidance of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion. For 2017 the company projects distributable cash flow of $600 million to $700 million. For 2018 the company projects EBITDA of $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion and distributable cash flow of $200 million to $400 million.
 
In its conference call the company said construction operations at both its Sabine Pass and Corpus Christie projections are back to levels reached before Hurricane Harvey. The Train 4 of the Sabine Pass plant reached substantial competition in October, five months ahead of the guaranteed competition date.
 
Cheniere Energy is a member of my Jubak Picks portfolio. The shares are up 74.1% since I added them to this portfolio on June 25, 2013. As of November 14, I’m tweaking the target price on Cheniere higher to $62 from the prior $58.00. The shares closed yesterday at $48.50 down 1.7% on the day.