Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) shares are in the red today.
In early afternoon trade on Thursday, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) coal stock are changing hands for $6.91 apiece, down 5.2%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.3% at this same time.
Why are Whitehaven shares under pressure today?
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What's happening with the ASX 200 coal stock?
Whitehaven reported its full-year results for the financial year ending 30 June (FY23) this morning.
And while most of those results were strong, they're clearly not living up to investor expectations, putting Whitehaven shares under selling pressure.
Among the strengths, the ASX 200 coal miner reported record FY23 revenue of $6.1 billion, up 23.3% year on year. Net profits also notched a new record, soaring 36.7% from FY22 to $2.7 billion.
This saw management declare a final fully franked dividend of 42 cents per share, up 5% from last year's final dividend.
Perhaps dragging on Whitehaven shares today was the 9% year on year reduction in run-of-mine (ROM) coal production, which came in at 18.2 million tonnes, down from 20 million tonnes in FY22.
Management also announced that the company's share buyback has been temporarily suspended as they consider future capital allocation "in light of growth opportunities".
And those growth opportunities won't come cheap.
Whitehaven forecasts FY24 capital expenditure in the range of $460 million to $570 million. That's up from $241 million in FY23.
And production costs could go higher in the year ahead.
FY24 unit cost of coal is forecast to be in the range of $103 to $113 per tonne, compared to $103 per tonne in FY23.
Farhan Badami, market analyst at eToro, called the FY23 results from Whitehaven shares a "triumphant financial performance".
However, Badami added:
It is also important to note Whitehaven Coal's demand surged due to eased Covid restrictions in China and a lift in the unofficial coal ban, benefiting the company. Over the year, however, prices tapered down moderately in the latter half, resulting in an average price of AU$445 per metric ton overall.
How have Whitehaven shares been tracking?
With today's intraday slide factored in, Whitehaven shares are down 12% over the past 21 months.
