Santos falls; Citi cuts PT, 2020 profit view on LNG price dip impact

STO

21/01/2021 23:55

** Citi cuts price target on gas producer Santos  STO.AX  to
A$7.32 from A$7.58, retains "neutral" rating
    ** Santos shares down as much as 3.7% to A$7.13
    ** Brokerage cuts 2020 net profit after tax (NPAT) view by
33% to $178.1 mln on low revenue recorded in 4Q20, increased
capital expenditure and stock movement
    ** Santos on Thursday posted https://bit.ly/3p2LNCF Q4 sales
revenue of $922 mln, down from $1.03 bln a year ago, due to weak
realised gas prices   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2JV422
    ** For the quarter, average liquefied natural gas (LNG)
prices fell to $5.34 per metric million British thermal unit
(mmBtu) from $9.07 mmBtu a year earlier 
    ** Citi sees 2020 sales and core net profit of $3.54 bln and
$178.1 mln, respectively, down from 2019's $4.19 bln and $719
mln, respectively
    ** However, brokerage expects STO to benefit from a spike in
spot LNG prices; spot LNG prices rose to a record high of $32.50
per mmBtu earlier in January  LNG/ 
    ** Citi expects sales and core net profit in 2021 returning
to near pre-COVID levels as average LNG realised prices recover

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com;))