By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- El Paso Corp. shares led gains among natural gas producers on Monday after the company beat Wall Street's earnings target and raised its production target for 2010 by about 3%.
El Paso /quotes/comstock/13*!ep/quotes/nls/ep (EP 10.91, +0.01, +0.09%) swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $265 million, or 36 cents a share, from a loss of $1.69 billion, or $2.43 a share, in the year-ago period.
Adjusted earnings for the natural gas producer and pipeline firm rose to 34 cents a share, from 21 cents a share.
Revenue fell to $1.19 billion from $1.34 billion.
Wall Street analysts expected earnings of 26 cents a share and revenue of $1.24 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research.
Shares of El Paso jumped more than 4% to $10.90. The company led gainers among components of the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index /quotes/comstock/10t!xng.x (XNG 543.17, +7.31, +1.36%) .
The company also said it's increasing its 2010 production target to 740-790 million cubic feet equivalent a day, from is earlier view of 720-760 million cubic feet equivalent.
In 2009, El Paso's production averaged about 763 million cubic feet equivalent a day.
Its 2010 cost target for producing natural gas fell to $1.85 to $2.15 per thousand cubic feet equivalent, from $1.90 to $2.20 per thousand cubic feet.
Chairman and CEO Doug Foshee said the Houston energy firm is "off to a strong start" this year and that the company "has already made significant progress toward our 2010 goals."
On its pipeline projects, El Paso said it expect to win final approval in March from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for its Ruby pipeline, which will carry natural gas from fields in Wyoming and surrounding states to a junction point in Malin, Oregon. It has received $1.5 billion in commitments for its Ruby project financing and plans to begin construction in May or June of this year.
Its Marcellus pipeline project is now fully subscribed, via 20-year contracts, the company said.
Steve Gelsi is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York
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