What you won’t hear at the July 26 2nd Qtr Earnings Release Meeting
(1) The ELT is populated with self-serving narcissistic jerks. They are schemers rather than planners. So they have their own reasons for the creation of this new second tier ELT. Think taking care of their own.
(2) There will be more executive departures after August when stock grants and RSU’s are vested. These will probably go along with another late summer employee severance as we consolidate L48 and HQ. Expect another EOI.
(3) Costs are going to go up. The first warning of this will be second quarter actuals. This didn’t show up in the first quarter because of 4th quarter 2017 accruals. This will be an impetus to employee reductions. We will jump to yet another metric from COS to obfuscate our higher and increasing costs and Wall Street recognition that COS math is goal-seeked.
(4) The classic definition of insanity still applies to Exploration leadership: results will continue to disappoint. If you’re on the earnings call, ask about Offshore or look back to what they promised 5 years ago.
(5) Margins and production will bring positive news. Yes, higher prices will play a part, but after disappointing previous years, they built significant “fluff” into the 2018 plan.
(6) Is it just me, or does the recent build-up of assets in Alaska remind anyone of Australia? The same guy builds up his empire to add production and get a promotion but at a value loss... then moves on.