From a review of the very fine Google Finance Website and of company financial statements in the US SEC website, I found the 83 Companies headquartered in Colorado all with Stock Market Capitalizations now of more than $100 Mil and which also have filed their fiscal year 2015 annual financial statements with the SEC. Traditional Regulated Utilities were excluded.
Of these 83 Colorado Companies, 10 of them reported an SEC Standard Identification Code (SIC Code) of 1311: Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas.
The Total Audited US GAAP Earnings From Continuing Operations of the 73 Non-Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas Companies were $9.4 Bil for 2015, up 24% over 2014 and up 450% or an Earnings Improvement of $12.1 Bil from the Total Losses of $2.7 Bil in 2008, the year before President Obama took office.
On the other hand, the 10 Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas Colorado Companies generated Total Audited US GAAP Losses of $6 Bil in 2015 an Earnings Deterioration of $7.7 Bil from the $1.7 Bil of Total Earnings generated in 2014.
So, Oil and Gas Prices were down, so where's the reported earnings problem?
Well first, US GAAP permits companies to use either the Successful Efforts or the Full Cost methods of accounting for oil and gas properties, even though the earnings effect each year can be dramatically different.
Theoretically, there is no way that both methods can be correct.
And when companies use the Full Cost method, all costs incurred gets capitalized as an asset instead of expensed even if the company isn't successful in drilling at a specific location. Then, when Oil Prices drop precipitously, the amount of the Earnings Impairment Loss Charges are ballooned up by the many years of capitalized costs under the Full Cost method of accounting ..... the larger the asset buildup, the larger the asset impairment charge.
Second, the actual required computation of the oil and gas properties impairment earnings charge under US GAAP, which is very subjective as to what will happen in the future, I think inflates the charge due to several items, one of which being the required discount rate to use.
When reported earnings, which is the keystone to the proper functioning of US security markets, have such substantial theoretical flaws, US capitalism is severely impaired. It's not just the questionable quality of earnings of the oil and gas companies, but also the quality of earnings of the financial companies making loans to and investments in these oil and gas companies.
Anyway, below here are the reported Audited Earnings (Losses) From Continuing Operations of each of these 83 Colorado Companies with Stock Market Caps above $100 Mil for all years reported from 2007 through 2015 where the amounts were presented and in a consistent manner:
| 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | ||||
| Most | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | |||
| Recent | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | |||
| City | ST | 2015 | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | |
| Colorado Company | HQs | HQs | FYE | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) |
| $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | $ mils | ||||
| Non Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas | ||||||||||||
| Level 3 Communications | Broomfield | CO | Dec15 | 3,433 | 314 | (109) | (422) | (827) | (621) | (618) | (318) | (1,146) |
| Liberty Interactive Group | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 911 | 578 | 554 | 605 | 586 | 824 | (37) | (223) | 703 |
| Western Union | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 838 | 852 | 798 | 1,026 | 1,165 | 910 | 849 | 919 | 857 |
| DISH Network | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 769 | 929 | 837 | 663 | 1,516 | 985 | 635 | 903 | 756 |
| Pilgrim's Pride Corp | Greeley | CO | Dec15 | 646 | 711 | 550 | 174 | (496) | 90 | (152) | (991) | 52 |
| Arrow Electronics | Centennnial | CO | Dec15 | 500 | 498 | 400 | 507 | 599 | 480 | 124 | (614) | 411 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 476 | 445 | 327 | 278 | 215 | 179 | 127 | 78 | 71 |
| DaVita Health Partners | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 427 | 863 | 744 | 641 | 591 | 482 | 480 | 421 | 429 |
| Molson Coors Brewing | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 359 | 517 | 571 | 438 | 675 | 670 | 732 | 403 | 525 |
| Ball Corp | Broomfield | CO | Dec15 | 303 | 498 | 435 | 422 | 469 | 549 | 391 | 315 | 282 |
| Newmont Mining | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 277 | 369 | (2,856) | 2,187 | 1,074 | 3,119 | 2,109 | 1,147 | (580) |
| Starz | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 237 | 269 | 250 | 252 | 244 | 155 | 118 | (1,356) | |
| DCP Midstream Partners LP | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 233 | 437 | 217 | 229 | 221 | 137 | 9 | 212 | 40 |
| IHS Inc | Englewood | CO | Nov15 | 189 | 178 | 117 | 143 | 126 | 134 | 125 | 51 | 84 |
| Woodward Inc | Fort Collins | CO | Sep15 | 181 | 166 | 146 | 142 | 132 | 111 | 94 | 123 | 98 |
| WhiteWave Foods | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 168 | 140 | 99 | 113 | 114 | 81 | 61 | 66 | NA |
| Antero Midstream Partners LP | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 159 | 128 | 2 | (5) | (2) | ||||
| Janus Capital Group Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 159 | 155 | 122 | 112 | 153 | 169 | (744) | 147 | 214 |
| Envision Healthcare Holdings | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 151 | 120 | 11 | 41 | 34 | 132 | 115 | 85 | |
| Vail Resorts | Broomfield | CO | Jul16 | 149 | 115 | 28 | 38 | 16 | 34 | 36 | 51 | 108 |
| Echostar Corp | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 149 | 148 | 3 | 211 | 4 | 204 | 365 | (958) | (85) |
| Innospec Inc | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 120 | 84 | 78 | 67 | 47 | 70 | 6 | 13 | 30 |
| Air Methods | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 110 | 99 | 63 | 93 | 47 | 43 | 27 | 16 | 27 |
| UDR Inc | Highlands Ranch | CO | Dec15 | 105 | 16 | 2 | (46) | (123) | (118) | (94) | (63) | 45 |
| DCT Industrial Trust Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 103 | 47 | (9) | (29) | (43) | (45) | (26) | (16) | (4) |
| Apartment Investment and Mgt | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 91 | 67 | 35 | (19) | (136) | (161) | (198) | (118) | (50) |
| Advanced Energy Industries Inc | Ft Collins | CO | Dec15 | 83 | 69 | 60 | 12 | 32 | 54 | (102) | (7) | 25 |
| M.D.C. Holdings | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 66 | 63 | 314 | 63 | (98) | (65) | 25 | (381) | (637) |
| TeleTech Holdings Inc | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 66 | 77 | 71 | 74 | 78 | 54 | 76 | 77 | 56 |
| Liberty Media Corp | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 64 | 178 | 8,780 | 1,160 | 594 | 825 | 340 | (1,552) | 1,483 |
| National CineMedia Inc | Centennial | CO | Dec15 | 64 | 66 | 130 | 65 | 101 | 109 | 101 | 71 | 84 |
| CSG Systems Intl | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | 63 | 36 | 45 | 47 | 42 | 22 | 42 | 53 | 55 |
| CoreSite Realty | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 57 | 40 | 32 | 11 | (11) | (12) | (7) | (14) | 3 |
| Re/Max Holdings Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 51 | 44 | 28 | 33 | 24 | (3) | (1) | (76) | |
| Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 48 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 21 | 7 | 18 | 27 | 31 |
| Intrawest Resort Holdings | Denver | CO | Jun16 | 43 | (5) | (189) | (298) | (337) | (492) | |||
| TransMontaigne Partners LP | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 42 | 32 | 35 | 39 | 47 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
| Century Communities | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 40 | 20 | 12 | 7 | |||||
| CPI Card Group | Littleton | CO | Dec15 | 31 | 16 | 11 | 9 | |||||
| Vectrus Inc | Colorado Springs | CO | Dec15 | 31 | 23 | 84 | 75 | 54 | 22 | 39 | ||
| CoBiz Financial Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 32 | (22) | (83) | 2 | 23 |
| DigitalGlobe Inc | Westminster | CO | Dec15 | 23 | 19 | (68) | 39 | (28) | 3 | 47 | 54 | 96 |
| Guaranty Bancorp | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 22 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 6 | (31) | (29) | (257) | (138) |
| Hallador Energy Co | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 20 | 10 | 22 | 24 | 36 | 22 | 22 | 9 | (2) |
| Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc | Lakewood | CO | Sep15 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | ||
| Century Casinos Inc | Colorado Springs | CO | Dec15 | 14 | (1) | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | (13) | (18) | (1) |
| Mesa Laboratories Inc | Lakewood | CO | Mar16 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Heska Corp | Loveland | CO | Dec15 | 6 | 2 | (1) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | (1) | 35 |
| National Bank Holdings Corp | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 5 | 9 | 7 | (1) | 42 | 6 | (2) | ||
| National Storage Affiliates Trust | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | 5 | (16) | (12) | (3) | |||||
| Gold Resource Corp | Colorado Springs | CO | Dec15 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 28 | 60 | (23) | (34) | (26) | (8) |
| Farmland Partners Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 2 | (1) | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Gaia Inc | Louisville | CO | Dec15 | 1 | (6) | (20) | (19) | (25) | 5 | (0) | (48) | 9 |
| Summit Materials | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (1) | (6) | (103) | (47) | (5) | (23) | (5) | ||
| Noodles & Co | Broomfield | CO | Dec15 | (14) | 11 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Pershing Gold Corp | Lakewood | CO | Dec15 | (19) | (16) | (14) | (49) | (21) | (1) | |||
| Nivalis Therapeutics | Boulder | CO | Dec15 | (23) | (15) | (16) | (10) | |||||
| Pure Cycle | Denver | CO | Aug15 | (23) | (0) | (4) | (17) | (6) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (7) |
| Dynamic Materials Corp | Boulder | CO | Dec15 | (24) | 2 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 25 |
| Advanced Emissions Solutions | Highlands Ranch | CO | Dec15 | (30) | 1 | (16) | (13) | (31) | (31) | |||
| Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | (40) | (22) | (7) | 983 | 12 | 12 | (1) | ||
| Liberty Broadband Corp | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | (50) | (135) | (42) | 44 | 607 | 62 | (22) | NA | NA |
| Spectranetics Corp | Colorado Springs | CO | Dec15 | (59) | (41) | (0) | 2 | 1 | (13) | (13) | (4) | 7 |
| Zayo Group Holdings | Boulder | CO | Jun16 | (76) | (155) | (182) | (146) | (10) | (7) | (14) | (10) | |
| Royal Gold Inc | Denver | CO | Jun16 | (82) | 53 | 63 | 73 | 98 | 77 | 29 | 41 | 25 |
| Crocs Inc | Niwot | CO | Dec15 | (83) | (5) | 10 | 131 | 113 | 68 | (42) | (185) | 168 |
| Ascent Capital Group Inc | Greenwood Village | CO | Dec15 | (86) | (37) | (22) | (25) | (29) | (34) | (56) | (8) | 6 |
| Array Biopharma Inc | Boulder | CO | Jun16 | (93) | 9 | (85) | (62) | (24) | (56) | (78) | (128) | (96) |
| Thompson Creek Metals Co Inc | Littleton | CO | Dec15 | (135) | (124) | (215) | (546) | 292 | 114 | (56) | 173 | 140 |
| Westmoreland Coal Company | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | (209) | (173) | (8) | (14) | (37) | (3) | (29) | (49) | (13) |
| BioScrip | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (303) | (150) | (72) | (27) | (24) | (69) | 54 | (74) | 3 |
| Clovis Oncology | Boulder | CO | Dec15 | (353) | (160) | (85) | (74) | (56) | (38) | (17) | ||
| Liberty Global | Englewood | CO | Dec15 | (1,050) | (981) | (882) | (584) | (802) | (977) | (255) | (694) | (443) |
| Total all 73 | 9,393 | 7,588 | 11,194 | 8,948 | 7,181 | 8,215 | 4,511 | (2,684) | 3,826 | |||
| 2015 Total Earnings % Above: | ||||||||||||
| ….. 2014 Total Earnings | 24% | |||||||||||
| ….. 2008 Total Earnings | 450% | |||||||||||
| 2015 Total Earnings $ Mils Above: | ||||||||||||
| ….. 2008 Total Earnings | 12,077 | |||||||||||
| Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas | ||||||||||||
| Cimarex Energy | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (2,409) | 507 | 565 | 354 | 530 | 575 | (312) | (915) | 345 |
| Whiting Petroleum Corp | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (2,219) | 65 | 366 | 414 | 492 | 337 | (107) | 252 | 131 |
| Resolute Energy | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (742) | (22) | (114) | 18 | 30 | 6 | (45) | 4 | 3 |
| Bill Barrett | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (488) | 15 | (193) | 1 | 31 | 81 | 50 | 105 | 27 |
| Venoco Inc | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (464) | 120 | 14 | (47) | 62 | 68 | (47) | (391) | (73) |
| SM Energy | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (448) | 666 | 171 | (54) | 215 | 197 | (99) | 87 | 187 |
| QEP Resources | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (149) | (410) | 52 | 2 | 118 | 200 | 215 | 521 | 362 |
| PDC Energy | Denver | CO | Dec15 | (68) | 107 | (21) | (19) | 23 | 24 | (80) | 106 | 26 |
| Synergy Resources Corp | Denver | CO | Aug15 | 18 | 29 | 10 | 12 | (12) | (11) | (12) | (0) | (0) |
| Antero Resources Corp | Denver | CO | Dec15 | 980 | 674 | (24) | 225 | 271 | 0 | (60) | (43) | |
| Total all 10 | (5,989) | 1,751 | 826 | 906 | 1,760 | 1,477 | (497) | (274) | 1,008 | |||
| Earnings Deterioration 2015 vs 2014 | (7,740) | |||||||||||
| Grand Total all 83 | 3,404 | 9,339 | 12,020 | 9,854 | 8,941 | 9,692 | 4,014 | (2,958) | 4,834 | |||
