CNX Reports Second Quarter Results

PITTSBURGH, July 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE: CNX) ("CNX" or "the company") today announced the following financial and operational results:

Second Quarter Highlights

• Reported a net loss attributable to CNX shareholders of $146 million, or a loss of $0.78 per diluted share, including an unrealized loss on commodity derivative instruments of $206 million.
• Adjusted net income (a non-GAAP measure)⁽¹⁾ was $24 million.
• Adjusted EBITDAX (a non-GAAP measure)⁽¹⁾ was $212 million.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was $144 million and capital expenditures were $135 million.
• Proceeds from asset sales were $12 million.
• Consolidated free cash flow (FCF) (a non-GAAP measure)⁽¹⁾ was $21 million.
• Received $29 million in net proceeds from monetizing and terminating approximately 39 million MMBtus of NYMEX natural gas hedges and a similar quantity of financial basis hedges that were to settle at various times from May through November of 2020.
• Completed private offering of $345 million aggregate principal amount of 2.25% convertible senior notes due 2026.
• Used net proceeds of convertible debt offering to pay down 5.875% notes due in 2022. CNX has paid down the aggregate principal amount of its 2022 notes by approximately $482 million year-to-date.

"The second quarter highlights our philosophy in action with lower quarterly production cash costs, positive free cash flow, a balance sheet strengthening convertible notes offering, and navigating a challenging commodity price environment by efficiently deferring volumes to higher price periods," commented Nicholas J. DeIuliis, president and CEO. "We remain committed to making capital allocation decisions to maximize the long-term intrinsic value per share of the company."

Mr. DeIuliis continued, "There are three main tenets that underlay our plan. First, we generate free cash flow on a day in, and day out basis. Our programmatic hedging helps drive our free cash flow generation and will continue to be a key tactic in the future. There are various other considerations that drive the free cash flow generation of the company such as low lease operating expense and low capital intensity; our blending strategy to avoid expensive processing fees; and our ability to reuse frac water to maintain a healthy water balance, to name a few. Second, we take the organic free cash flow that we generate and roll in a very modest amount of assets sales, which produce our cumulative free cash flow. Over our 7-year plan, we expect to generate over $3 billion of cumulative free cash flow^(a), which leads to the third and last tenet: allocate that free cash flow into the right places at the right times. We are constantly evaluating redeploying capital back into the drill-bit, reducing debt, share buybacks, and M&A. We want to allocate capital to the right places, while maintaining great liquidity. Given the continued weakness in gas macro, our focus remains on debt reduction, which we feel is the best way to maximize the long-term intrinsic value per share of the company at this time."

Second Quarter Financial Results:
The following table represents certain non-GAAP financial measures used by the company:¹

Operations:

During the quarter, CNX used up to two horizontal rigs and drilled eight wells. The company currently has one rig in operation along with one frac crew. During the quarter, the company utilized one all-electric frac crew to complete 11 wells, which included eight Southwest Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale wells and three Monroe County, Ohio, Utica Shale wells. In the first quarter, CNX turned-in-line six wells.

During the quarter, volumes decreased due to the temporary shut-in of a portion of CNX's liquids-rich Shirley-Pennsboro production in May and June of 2020 in response to low NGL prices. Additionally, two new pads of dry gas turn-in-lines from April and May were temporarily shut-in May and June due to low natural gas prices. These decisions were made to take advantage of improved gas prices at the start of winter.

CNX's natural gas and liquids production in the quarter came from the following categories:

The following table highlights operating cash margins and fully burdened cash margins:

PRICE AND COST DATA PER MCFE — Quarter-to-Quarter Comparison:

In the second quarter of 2020, total production costs were lower compared to the year-earlier quarter, due to improvements to LOE, transportation, gathering and compression, taxes, and DD&A. The primary driver to the improvement to LOE was a decrease in water disposal costs due to an increase in the reuse of produced water in well completions activity. The primary driver to improvement to transportation, gathering, and compression costs was due to the decline in processing fees due to a drier Marcellus production mix. The full commissioning of the Dry Ridge and Buckland compressor stations throughout the second half of 2019 allowed the majority of the gas produced from the Richhill Marcellus Shale field to avoid processing through blending. 

Marketing:

Total hedged natural gas production in the 2020 third quarter is 88.9⁽¹⁾ Bcf. The annual gas hedge position is shown in the table below:

In April 2020, CNX monetized and terminated approximately 39 million MMBtus of NYMEX natural gas hedges and a similar quantity of financial basis hedges that were to settle at various times from May through November of 2020. In connection with these monetizations, CNX received $29 million of net proceeds. In addition, during the second quarter of 2020, CNX purchased financial swaps for May through November of 2020 under which CNX will pay a fixed price to and receive a floating price from its hedge counterparties. These moves gave CNX additional flexibility to move production to higher price periods while immediately taking the monetization proceeds.

CNX's hedged gas volumes include a combination of NYMEX financial hedges, index (NYMEX and basis) financial hedges, and physical fixed price sales. In addition, to protect the NYMEX hedge volumes from basis exposure, CNX enters into basis-only financial hedges and physical sales with fixed basis at certain sales points. CNX's gas hedge position through 2024 as of July 8, 2020, excluding the 2020 purchased swaps, is shown in the table immediately below.

During the second quarter of 2020, CNX added (sold) additional NYMEX natural gas swaps of 1.7 Bcf, 20.5 Bcf, 6.7 Bcf, 6.7 Bcf, 6.8 Bcf, and 0.9 Bcf for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively and additional index natural gas swaps of 1.0 Bcf and 0.8 Bcf for 2020 and 2021, respectively.  To help mitigate basis exposure on NYMEX hedges, in the second quarter CNX added 3.1 Bcf, 11.7 Bcf, 28.6 Bcf, 25.2 Bcf, 25.5 Bcf, and 6.8 Bcf of basis hedges for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

Finance:

At June 30, 2020, CNX's Stand-alone net debt to trailing-twelve-months (TTM) adjusted Stand-alone EBITDAX (including distributions from CNXM) (a non-GAAP measure)⁽¹⁾ was 2.3x. On a consolidated basis, CNX's net debt to TTM adjusted EBITDAX (a non-GAAP measure)⁽¹⁾ was 2.6x.

At June 30, 2020, CNX's credit facility had $550 million of borrowings outstanding and $205 million of letters of credit outstanding.

During the quarter, the company completed the private offering of $345 million aggregate principal amount of its 2.25% convertible senior notes due 2026. The company used the net proceeds to pay down a portion of its 5.875% notes due in 2022. As of June 30, 2020, the company had an aggregate principal balance of its 5.875% notes due in 2022 of approximately $414 million. The company has paid down the aggregate principal amount of these notes by approximately $482 million year-to-date.

CNX did not repurchase any shares of common stock during the second quarter of 2020.

Guidance Update:^(a)

2020 Guidance Update:
CNX reaffirms its 2020 production volumes of 490-530 Bcfe. Due to the pricing contango in 2020, the company shut-in certain wells starting in May to take advantage of anticipated higher price months later in the year. If the current gas price contango continues through the summer, the company expects that these shut-in wells will be back online in early November. Even though this would result in the company being at the lower end of the production range, the company would expect to be at the high-end of the adjusted EBITDAX range under this scenario. 

In 2020, CNX reaffirms FCF^(a) of approximately $300 million.   

2021 Guidance Update:
As previously discussed, the company believes that the decision to manage production through well shut-ins during the second quarter in 2020 will positively impact 2021 results. The company continues to expect the following results in 2021: production volumes of approximately 550 Bcfe, total capital expenditures of approximately $440 million, and EBITDAX^(a) of approximately $920 million. Due to the recently-announced CNXM transaction, the company expects FCF^(a) of approximately $425 million, which is an increase of $25 million from the previous guidance. If 2021 gas prices strengthen further, the company could produce approximately 600 Bcfe, or if gas prices weaken, the company has the flexibility to reduce activity. The company anticipates that the bulk of the FCF in 2021, like 2020, will be used to reduce the company's absolute debt and leverage ratio. 

2022-2026 Guidance:
CNX expects to shift to a maintenance of production (MOP) plan in 2022-2026. Over this time period, the company continues to expect average production volumes of approximately 560 Bcfe by turning-in-line 25 wells each year on average. Due to the recently-announced CNXM transaction, CNX expects annual FCF^(a) for 2022-2026 to average $515 million each year, compared to the previous guidance of $500 million of consolidated FCF.  

2020-2026 Cumulative: 
CNX expects cumulative FCF^(a) over its 7-year plan to be over $3.0 billion. 

CNX Acquiring All Outstanding Common Units of CNX Midstream Partners LP
On July 27, 2020, CNX and CNXM announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which CNX will acquire all of the outstanding common units of CNXM that it does not already own in exchange for CNX common stock valued at approximately $357 million, based on the most recent closing price of CNX common stock.

Video Presentation 
CNX has pre-recorded a video presentation that not only thoroughly examines the take-private transaction, but also reviews the CNX investment thesis and why the company believes it is a non-replicable, best-in-class E&P company. The video can be accessed at: https://vimeo.com/441806879, or by visiting the "Investor Relations" page of CNX's website at www.cnx.com, or on the 'News and Events' page of the CNX Midstream website at cnxmidstream.com. Presentation materials are available on each company's website.

Earnings Conference Call Details
As previously disclosed, CNX will hold its earnings call for the second quarter on Thursday, July 30. 

CNX Resources (NYSE: CNX)

• 10:00 a.m. ET: Thursday, July 30
• Dial-In: 855-656-0928 (domestic) 412-902-4112 (international)
• Reference "CNX Resources Call"
• Webcast: investors.cnx.com

About CNX

CNX Resources Corporation (NYSE: CNX) is one of the largest independent natural gas exploration, development and production companies, with operations centered in the major shale formations of the Appalachian basin. The company deploys an organic growth strategy focused on responsibly developing its resource base. As of December 31, 2019, CNX had 8.4 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index. Additional information may be found at www.cnx.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

CNX's management uses certain non-GAAP financial measures for planning, forecasting and evaluating business and financial performance, and believes that they are useful for investors in analyzing the company. Stand-alone results include both CNX's Exploration & Production (E&P) and Unallocated segments (but not the Midstream segment) plus distributions CNX receives from CNXM. CNX believes that providing stand-alone results provides investors with more transparency and a better ability to compare CNX's financial results to those of our peer group. The term "consolidated" includes 100% of the results of CNX, CNX Gathering LLC, and CNXM on a consolidated basis.

Definitions: EBIT is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income) and income taxes.  EBITDAX is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income), income taxes, depreciation, depletion and amortization, and exploration. Adjusted EBITDAX consolidated is defined as EBITDAX after adjusting for the discrete items listed below. Stand-alone EBITDAX is defined as the adjusted EBITDAX related to both CNX's E&P and Unallocated segments (See Note 24 - Segment Information in CNX's Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information) plus the distributions CNX receives during the current period from CNXM related to its limited partnership units (including general partner units, and incentive distribution rights (IDRs) prior to the IDR elimination transaction in the first quarter of 2020). Although EBIT, EBITDAX, Stand-alone EBITDAX and adjusted EBITDAX consolidated are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, management believes that they are useful to an investor in evaluating CNX Resources because they are widely used to evaluate a company's operating performance. We exclude stock-based compensation from adjusted EBITDAX because we do not believe it accurately reflects the actual operating expense incurred during the relevant period and may vary widely from period to period irrespective of operating results. Investors should not view these metrics as a substitute for measures of performance that are calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.  In addition, because all companies do not calculate EBIT, EBITDAX, Stand-alone EBITDAX or adjusted EBITDAX consolidated identically, the presentation here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDAX per outstanding share, adjusted net income per outstanding share, Stand-alone EBITDAX and adjusted EBITDAX consolidated are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Management believes that these financial measures are useful to an investor in evaluating CNX Resources because (i) analysts utilize these metrics when evaluating company performance and, (ii) given that we have an active share repurchase program, analysts have requested this information as of a recent practicable date, and we want to provide updated information to investors. 

Reconciliation of EBIT, EBITDAX, adjusted EBITDAX consolidated, Stand-alone EBITDAX, adjusted net income, net debt, organic free cash flow, free cash flow and TTM EBITDAX to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is as follows:

Management uses net debt to determine the company's outstanding debt obligations that would not be readily satisfied by its cash and cash equivalents on hand. Management believes that using net debt attributable to CNX Resources shareholders is useful to investors in determining the company's leverage ratio since the company could choose to use its cash and cash equivalents to retire debt.

Organic free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures.  Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures plus proceeds from asset sales. Organic free cash flow and free cash flow are non-GAAP supplemental financial measures that the Company's management and external users of its consolidated financial statements, such as industry analysts, lenders and ratings agencies use to assess the Company's liquidity. The Company believes that the measures provide useful information to management and investors in assessing the Company's ability to generate cash flow in excess of capital requirements and return cash to shareholders. Organic free cash flow and free cash flow should not be considered as alternatives to net cash provided by operating activities or any other measure of liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP.

The tables below reconcile organic free cash flow and free cash flow with net cash provided by operating activities, the most comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, as derived from the Statements of Condensed Consolidated Cash Flows to be included in the Company's report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.

Cautionary Statements

We are including the following cautionary statement in this press release to make applicable and take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of us. With the exception of historical matters, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act")) that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. These forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe a strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by securities law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the following: prices for natural gas and NGLs are volatile and can fluctuate widely based upon a number of factors beyond our control including oversupply relative to the demand for our products, weather and the price and availability of alternative fuels; our dependence on gathering, processing and transportation facilities and other midstream facilities owned by CNX Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: CNXM) (CNXM) and others; uncertainties in estimating our economically recoverable natural gas reserves, and inaccuracies in our estimates; the high-risk nature of drilling, developing and operating natural gas wells; our identified drilling locations are scheduled out over multiple years, making them susceptible to uncertainties that could materially alter the occurrence or timing of their development or drilling; challenges associated with strategic determinations, including the allocation of capital and other resources to strategic opportunities; the substantial capital expenditures required for our development and exploration projects, as well as CNXM's midstream system development; the impact of potential, as well as any adopted, environmental regulations, including those relating to greenhouse gas emissions; environmental regulations can increase costs and introduce uncertainty that could adversely impact the market for natural gas with potential short and long-term liabilities; decreases in the availability of, or increases in the price of, required personnel, services, equipment, parts and raw materials in sufficient quantities or at reasonable costs to support our operations; if natural gas prices decrease or drilling efforts are unsuccessful, we may be required to record write-downs of our proved natural gas properties; the availability of storage capacity for refined products such as crude, and refinery inputs including condensate, c5+ and butane; changes in assumptions impacting management's estimates of future financial results as well as other assumptions such as movement in our stock price, weighted-average cost of capital, terminal growth rates and industry multiples, could cause goodwill and other intangible assets we hold to become impaired and result in material non-cash charges to earnings; a loss of our competitive position because of the competitive nature of the natural gas industry, consolidation within the industry or overcapacity in the industry adversely affecting our ability to sell our products and midstream services; deterioration in the economic conditions in any of the industries in which our customers operate, a domestic or worldwide financial downturn, or negative credit market conditions; the impact of outbreaks of communicable diseases such as the novel highly transmissible and pathogenic coronavirus ("COVID-19") on business activity, the company's operations and national and global economic conditions, generally; hedging activities may prevent us from benefiting from price increases and may expose us to other risks; existing and future government laws, regulations and other legal requirements and judicial decisions that govern our business may increase our costs of doing business and may restrict our operations; significant costs and liabilities may be incurred as a result of pipeline operations and related increase in the regulation of gas gathering pipelines; our ability to find adequate water sources for our use in shale gas drilling and production operations, or our ability to dispose of, transport or recycle water used or removed in connection with our gas operations at a reasonable cost and within applicable environmental rules; failure to successfully estimate the rate of decline or existing reserves or to find or acquire economically recoverable natural gas reserves to replace our current natural gas reserves; risks associated with our current long-term debt obligations; a decrease in our borrowing base, which could decrease for a variety of reasons including lower natural gas prices, declines in natural gas proved reserves, asset sales and lending requirements or regulations; changes in federal or state income tax laws, cyber incidents could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations; construction of new gathering, compression, dehydration, treating or other midstream assets by CNXM may not result in revenue increases and may be subject to environmental, political, legal and economic risks; our success depends on key members of our management and our ability to attract and retain experienced technical and other professional personnel; terrorist activities could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations; we may operate a portion of our business with one or more joint venture partners or in circumstances where we are not the operator, which may restrict our operational and corporate flexibility and we may not realize the benefits we expect to realize from a joint venture; acquisitions and divestitures, we anticipate may not occur or produce anticipated benefits; the outcomes of various legal proceedings, including those which are more fully described in our reports filed under the Exchange Act; there is no guarantee that we will continue to repurchase shares of our common stock under our current or any future share repurchase program at levels undertaken previously or at all; negative public perception regarding our industry could have an adverse effect on our operations; CONSOL Energy may not be able to satisfy its indemnification obligations in the future and such indemnities may not be sufficient to hold us harmless from the full amount of liabilities for which CONSOL Energy will be allocated responsibility ; risks associated with the company's issuance of convertible senior notes due 2026 (the "convertible notes"), including the potential impact that the convertible notes may have on our reported financial results, potential dilution, the company's ability to raise funds to repurchase the convertible notes, and that provisions of the convertible notes could delay or prevent a beneficial takeover of the company; the potential impact of the capped call transaction undertaken in tandem with the convertible note issuance, including counterparty risk; the possibility that the market price of the company's common stock will fluctuate prior to the completion of the take-private transaction causing the value of the merger consideration to change; the risk that a condition to the closing of the take-private transaction may not be satisfied on a timely basis, if at all; the timing of the completion of the take-private transaction; the substantial transaction-related costs that may be incurred by the company and CNXM in connection with the take-private transaction; the possibility that the company and CNXM may, under certain specified circumstances, be responsible for the other party's expenses; the possibility that the company and CNXM may be the targets of securities class actions and derivative lawsuits; the limited duties CNXM's partnership agreement places on CNXM's general partner (the "general partner") for actions taken by the general partner; the risk that certain officers and directors of the company and the general partner have interests in the take-private transaction that are different from, or in addition to, the interests they may have as CNXM's unitholders or the company's stockholders, respectively; and the possibility that financial projections by the company and CNXM may not prove to be reflective of actual future results.

Although forward-looking statements reflect the company's good faith beliefs at the time they are made, they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. For more information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those conveyed in the forward-looking statements, including, among others, that the company's business plans may change as circumstances warrant, please refer to the "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" sections of the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the Securities and Commission on February 10, 2020 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, unless required by law.