More from Dividend.com
Referenced Stocks

Arch Coal Slashes Dividend as Earnings Slide on Weak Coal Demand (ACI)

By Dividend.com,  May 01, 2012, 09:03:15 AM EDT

Coal producer Arch Coal Inc. ( ACI ) on Tuesday posted much lower-than-expected first quarter earnings results and cut its quarterly dividend payout by 73%.

The St. Louis-based company reported first quarter net income of $1.2 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with $55.6 million, or 34 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time benefits, ACI saw an adjusted net loss of 4 cents per share.

Revenue rose 19% from last year, however, to $1.04 billion.

On average, Wall Street analysts expected a profit of 16 cents per share, on still-higher revenue of $1.12 billion.

In order to conserve capital, ACI slashed its quarterly dividend payout by almost 73%. The new dividend of 3 cents per share (down from 11 cents) will be paid on June 15 to shareholders of record as of June 1.

Arch Coal shares fell 29 cents, or -3%, in premarket trading Tuesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Arch Coal ( ACI ) will now have a 1.23% dividend yield, based on the reduced dividend payout and last night's closing stock price of $9.76. The stock has technical support in the $7 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $11-$12 price levels.

Arch Coal Inc. ( ACI ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .




The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.


This article appears in: Investing, Stocks

Referenced Stocks: ACI



Latest News Video

U.S. Diplomat Accused of Spying Departs Russia
U.S. Diplomat Accused of Spying Dep...


Sign-in
Existing NASDAQ.com member? Log in here.

By signing into to the site using any of the third-party services above, you agree to NASDAQ.com's Terms of Use.

From Our Trusted News Source





Most Active by Volume:

Company Last Sale Change Net / %
BAC $ 13.43 0.07  0.52%
CSCO $ 24.24 0.35  1.48%
MSFT $ 34.87 0.79  2.32%
F $ 15.08 0.44  3.01%
ARUN $ 13.10 4.51  25.61%
SIRI $ 3.50 0.05  1.45%
GE $ 23.46 0.19  0.82%
S $ 7.32 0.04  0.55%