Silver Wheaton Profit Falls - Update

(RTTNews) - Canadian metals streaming company Silver Wheaton Corp (SLW, SLW.TO), said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit plunged as silver sales and prices declined. However, earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but sales were below expectations.

The Vancouver-based company mainly streams silver and to some extent gold.

Weak silver prices have been a bane for those like Silver Wheaton even as overall production at the company has been on the increase. The company said that for fiscal year 2014, it expects to produce about 36 million silver equivalent ounce, and increase annual production by about 35 percent by 2018.

During the fourth quarter, production climbed 17 percent year-over-year to 9.7 million ounces, while sales slid 13 percent to 8 million ounces.

Prices were depressed, with average realized sale price per silver equivalent ounce sold down 33 percent to $21 for the quarter.

The company posted quarterly net earnings of $94 million or $0.26 per share, compared with $177.7 million or $0.50 per share last year.

On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.25 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter dropped 42 percent to $167.4 million from $287 million a year ago. Analysts expected sales of $197 million for the quarter.

As of December 2013, the company's silver reserves declined by 5 percent to 807 million ounces while gold reserves were up 18 percent at 5.78 million ounces.

The company's stock closed Thursday at $25.14, up $0.09 or 0.36%, on a volume of 4.4 million shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock dropped $0.12 or 0.48% at $25.02. In Canada, the stock closed at C$28.24, up C$0.08 or 0.28%.