Marathon Oil Earnings Preview: 1Q Sales and Profits Expected to Surge (MRO)

Marathon Oil MRO is on tap to report first-quarter 2011 earnings tomorrow morning, May 3. Analysts expect the company to announce that per-share earnings rose 69.4% from a year ago to $1.44. Note that the consensus estimate was $1.08 just 60 days ago. Revenue for the quarter is expected to have increased 29.8% to $21.8 billion. Houston-based Marathon is an integrated energy company that operates primarily in Africa, Europe and North America. In January, Marathon announced that it would split into separate refining and exploration/production companies. Then in February, Marathon had to evacuate employees from Libya due to the political unrest. The company also announced that it would increase production in North Dakota's Bakken Shale formation. Looking ahead, analysts thus far expect to see sequential and year-over-year growth of both earnings and revenue in the second quarter. Earnings have topped consensus forecasts in the past five quarters. Strong results back in the fourth quarter were attributed to higher crude oil prices and refining margins. The share price reached a 52-week high of $54.33 earlier today. Year to date, the stock has performed better than competitors Chevron CVX and Exxon Mobil XOM, as well as the broader market.