Calpine Q1 Loss Widens, Reaffirms Full Year EBITDA Forecast

Calpine Corporation CPN disclosed that it suffered a wider net loss of $198 million or a loss of $0.58 a share in the first quarter. In comparison, the loss was $10 million or $0.03 a share in the preceding year quarter. The company blamed the wider loss to non-cash mark-to-market losses fuelled by the drop in forward power, as well as, natural gas prices.

Calpine's adjusted net loss was wider at $104 million in the March quarter than $62 million in the year-ago quarter due to higher estimated income tax expenses.

The company's revenue dipped 1.8 percent to $1.62 billion from $1.65 billion in the previous year quarter. Street analysts expected the company to suffer a loss of $0.06 a share on revenue of $1.3 billion in the first quarter.

Calpine's President and CEO Thad Hill said, "I am pleased to report that first quarter Adjusted EBITDA increased $36 million year-over-year, despite mild winter weather across much of the country. This performance was due to solid operations and effective hedging, and has kept us on track to reaffirm our full year guidance."

He continued, "Our first quarter results demonstrate the continued benefits of our geographically diverse, flexible and clean generation fleet. These modern, natural gas-fired power generation resources allow us to be resilient to low natural gas prices in the near term, while favorably positioning us for the long term."

The CEO added, "We also remain focused on building and developing our customer relationships. Over time, we think our customer focus, through both our Champion Energy retail business and our wholesale origination efforts, will deliver better results than simply being a price-taker. Since our last call, we have signed a new five-year contract in the East, expanded our retail service territory in New England and reached an agreement to sell our South Point Energy Center in Arizona to a local utility. This is in addition to the new ten-year toll of our Morgan plant with the Tennessee Valley Authority that we announced in February."

Going forward, Calpine reaffirmed its adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 - $1.95 billion for the full year 2016. Similarly, the company reiterated its adjusted free cash flow of $710 - $860 million.