An Earnings Beat: U.S. energy giant Chevron Corporation (CVX - Free Report) reported earnings per share of 1.90, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.45. The outperformance primarily stems from higher oil prices and volumes.

Shares of Chevron, meanwhile, rose 1.6% in premarket trading.

Estimate Revision Trend & Surprise History: The stock had seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings being revised 1.4% downward over the last seven days.

Nonetheless, Chevron has a good earnings surprise history. Before posting the earnings beat in Q4, the company delivered positive surprises in three of the prior four quarters, as shown in the chart below:

Chevron Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Chevron Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Chevron Corporation Quote

Overall, the company has a positive earnings surprise of 7.41% in the trailing four quarters.

Revenue Came in Lower than Expected: Chevron posted revenues of $37,764 million, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $38,740 million.

Key Stats: Chevron’s total production of crude oil and natural gas increased 6.6% compared with last year’s corresponding period to 2,852 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day (MBOE/d). The U.S. output rose 9.1% year over year to 733 MBOE/d but the company’s international operations (accounting for 74% of the total) was up 5.7% to 2,119 MBOE/d.

The rise in production was supported by higher oil realizations, the result being a healthy improvement in Chevron’s upstream segment profit – from $1,517 million in the year-earlier quarter to $3,352 million.

Chevron’s downstream segment achieved earnings of $728 million, 21.4% lower than the profit of $926 million last year. The decline primarily underlined a fall in refined products sales margins.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Chevron carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) which is subject to change following the earnings announcement. While things apparently look favorable, it all depends on what sense the just-released report makes to the analysts.