STOCKCHASE

A frustrating experience for everyone. One thing after another. There is a disconnect between commodities and underlying stocks and it is frustrating for holders of oil services stocks. It is about confidence. Thinks it is bottoming.

2012-01-11

Comment

43.710

Derek Webb, CFA

You're going to get very good volatility in this name. It does look cheap and technically it might look interesting but he doesn't know what is going on and as a right now. Probably has too much debt.

2011-12-01

STRONG BUY

44.670

Has been a "tough own". 139 Drilling vessels. They are well positioned for the type of drilling that will dominate over the next few years.

2011-11-23

PAST TOP PICK

55.820

(Top Pick Oct 20/10, Down 38%) Over intermediate and longer term we are going to have a greater and greater need for oil. One of the largest companies in the area.

2011-10-24

DON'T BUY

49.050

Sold around $72. Price never recovered. Demand / supply is still rather soft. Some headline risk with lawsuits.

2011-10-12

SELL

51.390

Srikanth Iyer

Is supposed to holdup on this whole cap X cycle but is has not held up. Canada is well positioned to participate in the cap X cycle. Swap into a Canadian oil rig company.

2011-08-24

PAST TOP PICK

62.470

(A Top Pick June 23/10. Up 19.32%.) Still a Buy at these levels.

2011-07-07

PAST TOP PICK

62.790

Eric Nuttall

(Top Pick Jun 10/10, Up 45.68) It was discounting a wild liability. Sold about $55 after a month and a half.

2011-06-08

HOLD

64.470

By end of year oil could be $125 oil. Thinks you will have demand destruction in N.A. and Europe but growth in developing nations. Problems with the gulf are essentially behind them.

2011-06-06

PAST TOP PICK

78.950

(Top Pick Mar 30/10, Down 3.75%)

2011-03-30

BUY

80.150

Transocean (RIG-N), Halliburton (HAL-N) or BP (PB-N)? Even though Transocean has recovered well in share price after the BP spill, thinks there is more opportunity for recovery with this one.

2011-02-02

Comment

72.470

Oil service is a very strong theme in the market, more on the land base rather than deep water drilling. This company has a major market share in every major market they play in globally. Headline risk over hanging it that he doesn’t care for. Prefers Weatherford (WFT-N).

2010-12-13

Comment

68.670

David Driscoll

One of the better drilling companies that got caught with the BP problems in the Gulf of Mexico. Have about $10 cash per share. Insurance costs have gone through the roof because of the spill and they still have litigation costs. If you are making a 1st time Buy, only do half.

2010-11-29

STRONG BUY

69.860

Great value here. Should earn about $7.50 a share.

2010-11-10

PAST TOP PICK

64.500

Eric Nuttall

(A Top Pick June 10/10. Up 45%.) Sold his holdings for a 25% gain. Offshore drilling fundamentals have weakened. Drilling ban persisted longer than expected and strict rules are now so ambiguous a lot of companies don't know how to comply.

2010-10-27

TOP PICK

66.050

With the BP mess, suffered 50% decline while earnings only dropped 16%. People were worried about litigation risk, but that is diminishing. Thinks it will build out and be good place to be.

2010-10-20

BUY

66.680

With the US drilling moratorium in the Gulf now lifted, still sees a lot more to come. Has earning power of $8-$9 a share. Could easily move back into the mid-$70’s or $80’s in 6-12 months.

2010-10-14

DON'T BUY

62.360

We still don't know what all the final liabilities are for the Gulf disaster. This company has 14 rigs in the Gulf and the moratorium is still on and hopefully gets lifted by year-end. Earnings estimates have dropped from 25%-30%. Too early yet.

2010-09-27

BUY

58.350

Thinks market reaction was overdone because of Gulf spill. Looking for about $8 in earnings. Have 139 rigs in the gulf. 13 of their deep-water vessels were in the gulf. Important but not their whole business. Over time psychological overhang will start to dissipate. Trading very cheap at 5-6 times earnings.

2010-09-14

BUY

53.740

A safer way to play the oil drilling sector than BP (BP-N). Added to his holdings just recently.

2010-09-08

STRONG BUY

54.080

Hurt by the tragedy in the Gulf. Financial liability is limited. Trading at about half before disaster but earnings will probably be hit by only 16%. Trading at 5 or 6 times this year's earnings. Exposure in the Gulf is relatively limited.

2010-08-18

BUY

54.160

Recently added to some of his holdings at around these levels. The situation with this company was probably a little overblown. Doesn't think there is as much a liability risk as owning BP directly. Trading at around 5.5X next year's earnings.

2010-08-11

DON'T BUY

46.070

Still too early to buy deep-water drillers, particularly in this case as their main business is deep water drilling. Because of the moratorium, there are idle rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Really a trading stock right now.

2010-07-26

BUY

45.260

John Zechner

Trading at 6X earnings. Because they have so much away from the Gulf and their liabilities are somewhat limited and if you can stomach the volatility in the short term, you should make money buying it under $50.

2010-07-23

BUY

47.750

They were the operators of the rig during the Gulf spill. Could see it into the mid-$60's in 12 months. Less than 10% of their fleet operates in the Gulf. About 5% yield.

2010-07-21

BUY

52.360

Stock is about half but earnings estimates have only come down about 16%. Going forward, the price should build back in. Have 139 rigs and only 15 are in the Gulf of Mexico and there will be a lot of demand for their rigs.

2010-07-14

BUY

49.750

Paul Harris, CFA

Expect they will have a higher liability on the Gulf spill that people are estimating that he thinks the stock price is already saying that. Buying it at this price makes a lot of sense. There will be continued growth in deep water drilling.

2010-06-24

TOP PICK

52.760

Operator of the British Petroleum (BP-N) drilling rig that caused all the problems in the Gulf. Earnings estimates have come down about 15% but stock price has come down 40%. Trading at 7-8 times earnings.

2010-06-23

TOP PICK

44.270

Eric Nuttall

This is the rig that was leased by BP. Has been absolutely crushed since the well blowout. Service companies are indemnified by the oil companies, which most people don’t know. They are really down because of the drilling moratorium. If that ends after 6 months, the stock is paying 7% and trading at 4x. Risk/reward is pretty compelling.

2010-06-10

DON'T BUY

58.580

With the explosion/oil spill, she thought that if it could be contained within a relatively short period of time, stock reaction was overblown. As time passed, there were questions about future deep water drilling so she sold her holdings.

2010-05-26

PARTIAL BUY

59.240

Jim Huang

All companies that had anything to do with British Petroleum and the oil spill have been oversold. When and if the oil spill is under control, there should be a good rally of all the stocks. Good time to start picking away at it.

2010-05-21

SELL

62.670

Ron Meisels

Had a major, major break. Should have sold when it broke the 200 day moving average.

2010-05-18

TOP PICK

90.370

Sign multiyear contracts with production companies but still moves with the commodity prices. Have 140 drilling rigs with a backlog of about 5 years of revenues. Trades at about 9X earnings and should grow 12%-14% in the near term.

2010-04-21

TOP PICK

83.170

Drilling services to oil/gas industry. Leader in ultra deep-water space. Likes demand/supply fundamentals. $31 billion backlog on a revenue base of $11 billion. Backlog gives very strong earnings visibility. Generating more free cash flow than it can use so recently announced a dividend policy giving a 3.5% yield that should be sustainable.

2010-03-30

PAST TOP PICK

89.830

(A Top Pick Nov 8/12. Up 32.8% excluding dividends.) Offshore drilling. Has about $40 billion backlog and about 6 years of revenue. Will probably earn about $13 this year and will be down a little bit next year along with the sector.

2009-11-11

BUY on WEAKNESS

84.350

This is the leader in terms of the complex semi-submersibles for deep shore applications. If you're comfortable with the currency risk, it looks like a good name to hold. Pretty much of a monopoly on the rigs and are booked years in advance. If it drops after the earnings, pick up more.

2009-09-28

BUY

77.990

Brett Hryb

Deepwater oil drilling play. Have a lot of growing opportunities in the deep waters off Brazil. Day rates have held up relatively strongly.

2009-07-29

PAST TOP PICK

66.710

(A Top Pick March 25/08. Down 47.41%.) Largest offshore driller in the world. This is where the action will be when things heat up. Right now it's a bit early.

2009-04-14

DON'T BUY

56.750

David Driscoll

Deep sea driller. Very well run. As oil prices came down and demand for drilling started to ebb, stock price dropped. No dividend. Future earnings are looking a little weaker than previous. $25-$30 range would look attractive if you've got the patience for the cycle to turn.

2008-12-12

DON'T BUY

57.850

(Market Call Minute.) You have to wait for energy to turn around.

2008-12-01

TOP PICK

67.660

Largest deepwater driller globally. Have about 140 rigs. Will earn in the neighbourhood of $14.50 next year. Have over a $40 billion backlog, which represents 5 years of revenue.

2008-11-12

DON'T BUY

131.710

There is a very good fundamental case to be made for offshore drillers. If the U.S. Congress allows offshore drilling, these companies are in a great spot. Technically this group has been badly broken in the last few weeks. He would like to see it trade above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

2008-08-21

BUY

131.430

In the oil sector on the US side he is primarily focused on the drillers and his favourite stocks are Halliburton (HAL-N) and Transocean (RIG-N).

2008-08-13

TOP PICK

144.320

Largest offshore drilling company globally with 140 rigs. Not that sensitive to the commodity. Now renting out some of their rigs for over $600,000 a day. About 5 years of backlog. Financially strong and trades at a low multiple.

2008-07-09

DON'T BUY

149.300

Alan Kral , CFA, CIC

Offshore oil business remains particularly robust however it is also the most volatile. If anything happens to break the price of oil, it could be a problem Very risky at these areas.

2008-04-15

TOP PICK

131.860

Active in the deep offshore market. Having trouble getting newer rigs out into the sector. A lot of the fleet is in production right now. Purchased it today.

2008-03-25

Comment

128.410

Largest global offshore drilling company. Have long-term contracts with numerous different producers/exploration companies so there is very good visibility of earnings going forward. A Buy, but wait until the smoke clears.

2008-01-18

TOP PICK

138.660

The largest offshore drilling company in the world. Even though it might trade with some sensitivity to oil, it's really not sensitive to the commodity in terms of its results. Have about 146 rigs and do about $10 billion in sales. They have $33 billion in backlog, 3.5 years of revenue.

2007-12-12

BUY

103.600

The US is going great gangbusters with lots of production, high revenues and higher day rates with offshore drilling rigs.

2007-08-08

WEAK BUY

72.100

Brian Acker, CA

If you like this industry, he would buy more at this price.

2006-02-14

BUY

58.720