Arch Coal, Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) reported Q1 EPS of $3.91, versus $2.43 reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $555.18 million versus the consensus estimate of $548.48 million.

"Arch is out of the gates in excellent fashion in 2019 with yet another strong operating performance, a robust level of capital returned to shareholders, and significant progress in the development of our next world-class coking coal mine," said John W. Eaves, Arch's chief executive officer. "During the first quarter, we captured record margins from our coking coal portfolio, exhibited solid cost control in our Metallurgical segment during a lighter-than-ratable shipping quarter, and overcame flood-related rail service disruptions at our Powder River Basin operations. In addition, we returned $86 million to shareholders under our capital return program, bringing the total returned since the program's inception to $726 million. All told, Arch has now bought back nearly one third of our initial shares outstanding."

"Given our outlook for strong and continued free cash generation through the balance of the year, Arch expects to be in excellent position to drive ahead with our capital return program while simultaneously laying a powerful foundation for future volume and earnings growth at the new Leer South mine," Eaves said.

Outlook

"We remain highly enthusiastic about Arch\'s value proposition and growth trajectory," Eaves said. "We expect our existing portfolio to continue to generate substantial levels of cash, and for the start-up of the Leer South longwall to take our cash-generating potential to the next level in late 2021. Looking ahead, we remain sharply focused on driving forward with each of our principal financial objectives – returning robust levels of cash to shareholders, sustaining our existing portfolio of world-class coking coal operations, constructing another powerful cash-generating asset at Leer South, and maintaining our rock-solid balance sheet."

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