Teekay Tankers Advances 16%

(RTTNews) - Shares of shipping company Teekay Tankers Ltd. (TNK) climbed $2.04 or 16.11% on Thursday following upbeat fourth-quarter results.

However, the company remained cautious about the negative impact of the Coronavirus outbreak in China on the tanker market in the comping months.

Net income in the fourth quarter increased to $63.07 million or $1.88 per share primarily on higher spot tanker rates. This compares with $11.5 million or $0.34 per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding items, earnings of $2.47 beat the average estimate of 4 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters at $2.04.

Revenue for the quarter increased to $303.89 million from $239.72 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Looking forward, Kevin Mackay, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "Although the full impact of the outbreak remains uncertain it appears likely that the tanker market will be negatively impacted in the coming weeks or months due to reduction in Chinese oil demand and associated refinery run cuts. In an effort to support oil prices the OPEC+ group have also indicated the potential for additional supply cuts in the anticipation of reduced demand caused by the virus outbreak."

TNK closed at $14.70 on Thursday and has traded in the range of $7.44- $25.74.