Have you been eager to see how Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-A - Free Report) – Europe’s largest oil company – performed in Q1 in comparison with the market expectations? Let’s quickly scan through the key facts from this Hague, Netherlands-based behemoth’s earnings release this morning:

About Royal Dutch Shell: Royal Dutch Shell owns one of the largest integrated oil and gas businesses in the world. The group has operations all over the world and is involved in various activities related to oil and natural gas, chemicals, power generation, renewable energy resources, and other energy related businesses. Royal Dutch Shell divides its operations into four major segments: Upstream, Downstream, Integrated Gas and Corporate.

In Feb 2016, Shell acquired UK’s third-largest energy player BG Group for a total consideration of $50 billion.

Zacks Rank & Surprise History: Currently, Royal Dutch Shell has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) but that could change following its first quarter 2017 earnings report which has just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Coming to earnings surprise history, the company has a dismal record: its missed estimates in three of the last four quarters resulting in an average negative surprise of 18.90%.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC Price and EPS Surprise

Royal Dutch Shell PLC Price and EPS Surprise | Royal Dutch Shell PLC Quote

Estimate Revision Trend: Investors should note that the earnings estimates for Royal Dutch Shell was unmoved prior to the earnings release. The Zacks Consensus Estimate remained the same over the last 7 days.

We have highlighted some of the key details from the just-released announcement below:

A Higher-than-Expected Profit: Earnings per ADS (on a current cost of supplies basis, excluding items) came in at 92 cents, breezing past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents.

Revenue Improves from Last Year: Revenues of $73,311 million were 47% above the first-quarter 2016 sales of $49,732 million.

Key Stats: Upstream segment recorded a profit of $540 million (excluding items) during the quarter, turning around from the $1,437 million (adjusted) loss in the year-ago period. Shell’s upstream volumes averaged 3,011 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day (MBOE/d), 6% higher than the year-ago period. The group’s worldwide realized liquids prices were 64% above the year-earlier levels while natural gas prices were up 10%.

In the downstream segment, the Anglo-Dutch super-major reported adjusted income of $2,489 million, 24% more than the $2,010 million earned in the year-ago period.

The Integrated Gas unit reported adjusted income of $1,181 million as against $994 million in Jan-Mar quarter of 2016.

Share Performance: Shares have risen 1.8% over the past 6 months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Oil & Gas - International Integrated industry’s 0.4% gains. Over the last 12 months, Royal Dutch Shell stock is up by 3.5%.