10:19 AM EST - EnCana Corp. : said on Wednesday its first-quarter profit dropped, hurt partly by a $423 million unrealized after-tax loss related to commodity price hedges. Earnings fell to $497 million, or 64 cents a share, from $1.47 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year earlier. Operating earnings, which exclude one time gains and charges, rose 24 percent to $858 million, or $1.10 a share, from $694 million, or 80 cents a share. Analysts were expecting a profit of 99 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. EnCana Corp.
shares T.ECA are trading off 35 cents at $59.75.
