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TAMPA — Walter Energy (symbol: WLT) earned $385.8 million in profits on $1.6 billion in revenues in 2010, as demand for coal pushed up both the price and the amount sold.
The Tampa company has benefitted from a natural disaster impacting business on the other side of the world: intense flooding in Australia's Queensland state has reduced the global coal supply, making Walter's production more valuable.
Interim CEO Joe Leonard acknowledged that the firm's advantageous market position would likely remain in effect well into 2011.
“Globally, events continue to limit availability of premium coking coals and we see supply-demand imbalance continuing in our favor as global steel production improves on its record 2010 output,” Leonard said.
Beyond its internal growth efforts, Walter made a pair of significant acquisitions that will boost its business going forward. For one, the firm recently acquired a river terminal facility in Mobile, Ala., which will boost shipping.
Then there's Walter's acquisition of Western Coal, a Canadian firm. The companies agreed to a merger at the end of last year that valued Western at $3.3 billion.
Given all those factors, investors have had a close eye on Walter's recent performance. Yesterday, the stock closed at a per-share value of $127.09, up 6.59% on the day. That boost added more than $415 million to Walter's market capitalization, which serves as a rough guide for a company's total overall value.
Walter stock was down in early morning trading today, but had only given back a fraction of the gains it made on Monday.
Walter Energy produces and exports coking coal, which is used in metallurgy. The company employs 2,100 people, and is headquarted in Tampa.
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