Business Corpus: Shale Giant To Ramp Up Wells Sharply, Beats Q3 ForecastsShale giant Continental Resources said it will ramp up activity at year's end and topped Q3 estimates late Monday, while Viper Energy Partners fell short of forecasts. The post Shale Giant To Ramp Up Wells Sharply, Beats Q3 Forecasts appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Shale giant Continental Resources (CLR) said it will ramp up activity sharply at year's end and topped Q3 estimates late Monday, while Diamondback Energy's (FANG) Viper Energy Partners (VNOM) fell short of forecasts.

Continental Resources Earnings

Estimates: Analysts expect Continental Resources earnings to soar 800% to 81 cents per share with revenue up 66.7% to $1.21 billion.

Results: EPS of 90 cents with revenue up 76% to $1.28 billion. Crude production jumped 17% year-over-year to 164,605 barrels of oil per day. Production from its Bakken operations hit a new quarterly record of 167,643 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 23% year-over-year.

The net sale price, excluding the effects of derivative positions, was $65.78 per barrel of oil, down from $63.35 in Q2 but up from $43.27 a year ago.

Outlook: Continental currently has 8 rigs drilling in the Bakken, up by 2 rigs from Q2, with that number expected to swell to up to 70 wells to be completed by year end 2018.

"With up to 70 of our forecasted 2018 Bakken wells and up to 18 SpringBoard wells scheduled to be completed by year end, Continental anticipates a strong wave of oil-weighted production growth as we approach year end," said Chairmand an CEO Harold Hamm in a statement.

Stock: Shares weren't active late but closed down 5.9% at 50.37 on the stock market today, as crude oil futures continuing to sell off Monday.

Continental Resources will hold a conference call for analysts on Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET to discuss the results.

Viper Energy Earnings

Viper Energy, Diamondback Energy's limited partnership, will also hold its earnings call on Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET.

Estimates: Analysts see Viper Energy earnings climbing 63% to 39 cents per share with revenue rising 86% to $80 million.

Results: EPS of 5 cents on royalty income of $74.4 million and total operating income of $78.6 million. Total production climbed 46% to 18,384 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The average sales price for oil of $54.51 per barrel is down from Q2's average of $62.66 but up from $45.33 a year ago.

Outlook: Viper raised its full year production guidance to 16,750-17,250 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 1% from its prior 2018 outlook.

Stock: Viper shares weren't active late but closed down 3.9% at 34.89. Diamondback Energy rose 1.1% in late trading.

Viper is the top ranked stock in IBD's Oil & Gas-U.S. Exploration & Production group. It has a 98 IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating. That means Viper is outpacing 98% of all stocks when it comes to the most important stock-picking criteria.

Shale Earnings Start

It's a busy week for shale earnings. Anadarko Energy (APC) and Concho Resources (CXO) are scheduled to report Tuesday. Apache (APA), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), and Cactus Wellhead (WHD) will report Wednesday. EOG Resources (EOG) and Parsley Energy (PE) will report Thursday.