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TAMPA — Walter Energy (symbol: WLT) earned $81.8 million in profits in the first quarter of 2011, up 97% over the year. Its $408.7 million in revenues were up 31%.
CEO Keith Calder says Walter's strong performance was “driven primarily by the third-highest coking coal pricing we have ever achieved.” The firm's average selling price for a short ton of coking coal was $193.51 this quarter, compared to $127.05 a year ago.
Walter's sales should increase dramatically over the remainder of 2011, if only by volume, following its acquisition of Canada-based Western Coal. While Walter expects to sell at least 7.5 million short tons of metallurgical coal through its continuing operations, the addition of Western will boost sales by 5 million additional short tons, according to company estimates.
Walter stock was down more than 2% in early Thursday trading, essentially returning to its closing value from the end of 2010, which was just less than $128 a share. Based on its number of shares outstanding, Walter Energy's total enterprise value currently is just more than $6.8 billion.
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