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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ADI, ARMH, AGO, BHI, DF, DELL, DUK, EV, EXPR, HPQ, HGSI, IRDM, MET, NOV, OCZ, RSH, RA)

Administrator — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:18:24 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Thursday.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Reiterated Buy with $43 target at Argus.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Raised to Buy at S&P.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE: AGO) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale.

Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) named as Bull of the Day in its turnaround at Zacks.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Maintained Buy but target cut to $18 from $22 at Argus.

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Citigroup.

Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) Maintained Neutral but raised 2012/2013 estimates by 2% at Credit Suisse.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) Cut to Market Perform with a price target of $13.00 at BMO Capital.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) Started as Buy at CRT Capital.

MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET) Reiterated Buy with $46 target at Argus.

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) Raised to Buy at Societe Generale.

OCZ Technology Group Inc (NYSE: OCZ) Started as Outperform with $8 target at Credit Suisse.

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

RailAmerica Inc. (NYSE: RA) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Three calls seen on NetApp (see here).

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADI, AGO, ARMH, BHI, DELL, DF, DUK, EV, EXPR, HGSI, HPQ, IRDM, MET, NOV, OCZ, RA, RSH

After the Fall: Value in Oil Stocks (XOM, CVX, BP, SLB, HAL, BHI, VLO, MPC, TSO, OIH, XOP)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:11:04 +0000

The month-long slide in crude oil prices has chopped the share price of many of the biggest names in the oil patch. Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is about -4% in the past month, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) is down -2.8%, BP plc (NYSE: BP) is down more than -9%, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) is down about -7%, and Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is down -6.5%. Only Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) shows a gain for the month, up about 3%. For the past three months, however, Baker Hughes is down more than any of the others, off about -20%.

Refiners are no better off: Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is down -7.7% in the past month, Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) is down about -9.8%, while Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is up a bare 0.4%. Refiners have been surviving off the wide differential between WTI and Brent crudes and as the differential narrows, profits are harder to come by.

For the integrated oil companies, the price of crude has been the determining factor in a company’s profit picture: the higher the price, the bigger the profit. That makes sense. For the services company, higher prices typically mean more work as producers want to get more oil to sell.

Because crude prices are at a seven-month low now, we thought it would be interesting to look for value in some of the big oil stocks. After all, low crude prices mean share sell-offs, so there ought to be some value left on the table.

With the exceptions of Exxon and Chevron, all the companies we looked at have implied gains exceeding 30% if analysts have gotten target prices right. That’s some pretty good value, but we thought we’d try to handicap the race a bit more closely.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) traded at $82.21 and has a market value of $383 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $94.53 and the 52-week range is $67.03 to $87.94. Exxon has a dividend yield of 2.8%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 15%, but we would note that the target is above the 52-week high.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded at $99.71 and has a market value of $196 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $124.88 and the 52-week range is $86.68 to $112.28. Chevron has a dividend yield of 3.7%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 25%, but we would note again that the target is above the 52-week high.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) traded at $38.26 and has a market value of $121 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $53.25 and the 52-week range is $33.62 to $48.34. BP has a dividend yield of 5.2%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 39%, but we would note again that the target is above the 52-week high.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) traded at $67.47 and has a market value of $89 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $89.20 and the 52-week range is $54.79 to $95.53. Schlumberger has a dividend yield of 1.7%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 32%, and the target price is lower than the 52-week high.

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) traded at $31.40 and has a market value of about $29 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $47.28 and the 52-week range is $27.21 to $57.77. Halliburton has a dividend yield of 1.2%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 51%, and again the target price is lower than the 52-week high.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) traded at $42.20 and has a market value of about $18 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $56.33 and the 52-week range is $39.40 to $81.00. Baker Hughes has a dividend yield of 1.5%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 33%, and again the target price is well below the 52-week high.

Valero Energy Co. (NYSE: VLO) traded at $22.17 and has a market value of about $12 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $30.15 and the 52-week range is $16.40 to $28.68. Valero has a dividend yield of 2.8%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 36%, and again the target price is above the 52-week high.

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) traded at $36.38 and has a market value of about $12 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $52.50 and the 52-week range is $26.35 to $47.43. Marathon has a dividend yield of 2.9%. The implied upside to the consensus target is 44%, and again the target price is above the 52-week high.

Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) traded at $23.49 and has a market value of about $3 billion. The consensus target price from Thomson Reuters is $31.36 and the 52-week range is $17.43 to $30.15. Tesoro does not pay a dividend. The implied upside to the consensus target is 34%, and again the target price is above the 52-week high.

For comparison, The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production ETF (AMEX: XOP) traded at $50.45 in a 52-week range of $37.67 to $65.58. That’s about 30% below the 52-week high. The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (AMEX: OIH) traded at $37.47 in a 52-week range of $35.32 to $45.14, again about 30% below the 52-week high.

Target prices for the large integrated oil companies are above 52-week highs, as are target prices for the refiners. Unless the price of crude rises sharply, the targets are out of reach for the integrated companies. For refiners, they’re whipsawed if prices for WTI open a bigger gap versus Brent or if WTI rise and Brent falls. No chance at those targets either way.

Targets for the services companies are lower than 52-week highs, which improves the chances of hitting those targets. Schlumberger, the largest of the services companies, and Baker Hughes both look appear to have the best chance to boost their share prices.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Commodities, Oil & Gas, Trading Alert, Value Investing Tagged: BHI, BP, CVX, HAL, MPC, OIH, SLB, TSO, VLO, XOM, XOP

Baker Hughes Rig Count Heads Right Direction (BHI, OIH)

Administrator — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:58:18 +0000

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) has released its weekly rig counts and you might not even have noticed that oil had fallen if you looked solely at the higher rig counts.

The company noted that the U.S. Rig Count grew by 12 to 1986 rigs, broken down by oil rigs rising by 10 rigs and to 1382 rigs and even gas rigs were up 2 at 600 rigs. The Rig Count is now up 156 rigs from last year at 1830, with oil rigs up 428 and gas rigs down 266. The U.S. Offshore rig count was 47, which is up 2 from last week and up 16 year over year.

The rig count in Canada grew by 3 to 123 rigs, broken down as oil rigs rising by 6 to 76 rigs and the gas rigs were down 3 rigs to a total of 47 rigs. The Canadian rig count is down 20 rigs from last year at 143 rigs, broken down by oil rigs up 3 rigs and gas rigs down 23.

Baker Hughes is still way down from its peak with a 50% sell-off from its 52-week high of $81.00, but shares today are down 0.3% at $40.65. The 52-week low is $39.40.

The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (AMEX: OIH) is down 0.7% at $35.53, so Baker Hughes is actually down a tad less than its peers.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Oil & Gas Tagged: BHI, OIH

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 16, 2012

Paul Ausick — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:05:52 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning as investors appeared to be reacting to a temporarily stronger euro, which indicated some confidence in the Eurozone generally. But the dollar regained its lost ground by mid-morning and looks to be continuing a run of 12 straight stronger showings, something last seen more than a quarter century ago. US housing data was not encouraging either (more coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.14% at 81.336. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 636.10, with commodities mostly higher today, defying the stronger dollar. Wheat was today’s big gainer. WTI crude oil closed down -1.2% at $92.81/barrel, it’s lowest close since November, and Brent crude trades down at -1.66% at $109.60/barrel. Gold settled down -1.3% today, at $1,536.60/ounce, the yellow metal’s lowest close since last July.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 33 points to 12,598.63 (-0.26%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 20 points (-0.68%) to 2,874.04, and the S&P 500 fell -0.44% or nearly 6 points to 1,324.81.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan; and SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) raised to ‘hold’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: 8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is down -1.5% at $3.86; Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) is up 4.2% at $15.28; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) is down -3.1% at $74.23 (more coverage here); Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE: EXP) is down -5.2% at $33.13; LiveDeal Inc. (NASDAQ: LIVE) is up 5.9% at $6.14; and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is up 0.7% at $55.49 (more coverage here).

On Thursday we are scheduled to get earnings from Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT), Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NASDAQ: DANG), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Jinkosolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS), Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST), Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down -19.2% at $26.92. The retailer absolutely failed on quarterly results. More coverage here.

Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG) is up 263% at $5.88. The medical test making firm will have one of its tests covered by Medicare. There was also a 1-for-15 reverse stock split. More coverage here.

Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) is down -13.7% at $39.21 after posting a new 52-week low of $38.26 earlier today. The teen retailer badly missed estimates last night.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
10:00 a.m. – E-commerce retail sales
10:00 a.m. – Leading indicators
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AET, ANF, BHI, BONT, CHS, CSCO, DANG, DE, DLTR, EGHT, EXP, GME, JCP, JKS, LIVE, PCX, ROSG, ROST, SD, SHLD, TGT, TK, WMT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

Administrator — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:26:14 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Wednesday.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) Raised to Buy with $38 target at Argus.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) maintained Neutral but cut target to $6 from $8 at Credit Suisse.

Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) maintained Neutral and cut target to $2.00 at Credit Suisse.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) Raised to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Solazyme, Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Texas Capital Bancshares (NASDAQ: TCBI) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE: TGH) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE: WFT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, AKAM, BHI, CSCO, DNKN, GNW, HTS, LFC, LRCX, NVLS, PCX, SD, SOL, SZYM, TCBI, TGH, WFT

Major Reactions As Crude Marches Down Through $100/Barrel (USO, OIH, AMJ, XOM, CVX, SLB, BHI, RIG, NOV, VLO, CHK)

Administrator — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:24:08 +0000

It was just a couple of days ago that oil was trading around $105 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate crude. Now the talk has migrated away from geopolitical risks associated with Iran. European purchasing managers data this week and the expected outcome of the elections are only aiding to the notion that Europe is going to continue to lead the world down. Oil has marched through the $100 barrier to the downside so fast that you might think the price did not even matter. Perhaps the dismal nonfarm payrolls data was the final blow. Some of the downward move is being tied to confusion over new margin requirements set to take place, which is acting as an impact on the major market participants. We wanted to first take a look at the exchange-traded products and then at the key stocks in each group under the oil sector.

The United States Oil (AMEX: USO) is now down 4.1% at $37.23 and the Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (AMEX: OIH) is down 3.7% at $38.57. Even the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMEX: AMJ), which is supposed to not be so tied to oil and gas prices, is down 0.75% at $39.43 against a 52-week high of $41.68.

Maybe dividend hikes are helping to mitigate some of the losses in the major integrated oil outfits. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) is down only 1.2% at $84.60 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is down about 2.1% at $103.75.

The drop is rather large in Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) with a loss of 3.7% at $69.95 for a loss of about $3 billion in market value. Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI) has suffered substantially from its highs by a drop of half from its 52-week high and shares are now down 4.4% at $40.97.

Elsewhere shares of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) is down 4.4% at $48.08 (down from a high of over $70), while National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) is down ‘only’ 2.2% at $71.12.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is even lower by 3.1% at $22.80 even though certain drops in the price of oil will help its operating margins. The caveat is that refiners need lower prices and actually they need stable prices so that they can have steadier pricing.

While its move to oil is marred by corporate problems tied to its CEO and governance issues, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) is the only stock up on the major oil and gas stocks we follow.

This drop to $98 in crude is the lowest level since roughly February 10, 2012. This is setting up to be the worst week for crude since the end of September.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Commodities, Economy, Oil & Gas, Trading Alert Tagged: AMJ, BHI, CHK, CVX, NOV, OIH, RIG, SLB, USO, VLO, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALGN, BHI, CACI, CAB, CHK, DVA, GMCR, LVLT, MSCI, ONXX, PCLN, QCOM, QIHU, CRM, TTM)

Administrator — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:18:17 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Thursday.

Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

CACI International. Inc. (NYSE: CACI) Cut to Neutral with $53 target at Credit Suisse.

Cabela’s, Inc. (NYSE: CAB) reiterated Strong Buy and named as value stock of the day at Zacks.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) maintained Buy but cut target to $31 from $38 at BofA/ML; Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.

DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA) Cut to Neutral at R.W. Baird.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey; Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) Reiterated Buy with $37.50 target at BofA/ML.

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI) Raised to Outperform with $42 target at Credit Suisse.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONXX) maintained Buy but removed from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) reiterated Strong Buy and named the Aggressive Growth stock of the day at Zacks.

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd (NYSE: QIHU) Started as Buy at Jefferies.

Salesforce.com Inc. (NASDAQ: CRM) Raised to Outperform with $185 target at Credit Suisse.

Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) Started as Overweight at HSBC.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ALGN, BHI, CAB, CACI, CHK, CRM, DVA, featured, GMCR, LVLT, MSCI, ONXX, PCLN, QCOM, QIHU, TTM

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, T, XRX, GE, LNKD, BIG, AZO, APD, BHI, COH, ITW, MHP, RSH, RF, HSY, NFLX, IBM, NAT, EGLE)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:11:08 +0000

Markets opened mixed this morning, with the DJIA showing much more strength than the S&P 500, which opened higher, or the Nasdaq, which opened lower. The S&P Case-Shiller house price index showed another decline in home prices (our coverage here), although new home sales rose slightly. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index was lower this month as well (our coverage here). Tech stocks have been weak all day as sentiment about the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings report faltered following comments from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) related to iPhone connections (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.25% at 79.220. The GSCI commodity index is down -0.28% at 675.82, with commodities mostly rising on the weaker dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.4% at $103.55/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.48% at $118.14/barrel. Gold settled up 0.7% today, at $1,643.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 74 points to 13,001.56 (0.58%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 9 points (-0.30%) to 2,961.60, and the S&P 500 rose 0.37% or about 5 points to 1,371.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $13 at Argus; General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) reiterated ‘buy’ with a target price of $22 at Argus; LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as ‘overweight’ at Piper Jaffray; Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; and AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: AT&T is up 3.9% at $31.81; Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) is down -4.3% at $84.91; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) is up 5.3% at $43.23 (more coverage here); Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) is down -4% at $72.10 (more coverage here); Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) is up 2.7% at $56.71; McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is down -3% at $47.65; RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) is down -10.3% at $5.36 after posting a new 52-week intraday low of $5.27; Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) is up 5.4% at $6.42; The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is up 5.7% at $65.86 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $66.94; and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is down -14.6% at $87.01.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is up .0.8% at $200.24. The tech giant raised its dividend today. More coverage here.

North American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) is up 1.5% at $14.01. Shipping rates for dry bulk shippers are rising and tanker rates, especially for the smaller (1 million barrels) crude carriers of the Suezmax class. Many other shippers are also getting a boost today, including Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: EGLE), which is up 6.8% at $1.88.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee wraps up its two-day meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference this afternoon. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
11:30 a.m. – 5-yr note auction
2:00 p.m. – FOMC forecasts

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, APD, AZO, BHI, BIG, COH, EGLE, GE, HSY, IBM, ITW, LNKD, MHP, NAT, NFLX, RF, RSH, T, XRX

Baker Hughes, Weatherford Continue Winning Streak for Oilfield Services Companies (BHI, WFT, HAL, SLB, NOV, CHK, OIH)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:58:01 +0000

The oilfield services companies are on a roll. Well, sort of. Expectations had been lowered so much coming into this earnings season that every one is able to clear the lowered bar. Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) and Weatherford International Inc. (NYSE: WFT) took their turns today. Last week Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) made it look easy. National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) is scheduled to report before the market opens tomorrow.

The lowered expectations were the result of production slowdowns by natural gas producers like Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) that have been bedeviled by low natural gas prices. The slowdown has pushed down rig rates as the services companies seek to keep busy.

Baker Hughes may have been the bigger surprise today. The company had been tamping down EPS expectations for the whole quarter. The initial estimate for first quarter EPS came in at $1.25, gradually sinking to $0.80. Baker Hughes reported EPS of $0.86 today on revenues of $5.36 billion, which also topped the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion.

Weatherford actually missed estimates today, but the company’s upbeat outlook made up for the misses. The company posted adjusted EPS of $0.25 versus an estimate of $0.28. Revenue totaled $3.6 billion versus an estimate of $3.64 billion. Weatherford’s EPS was more than twice what it reported in the same period a year ago and revenues were up 26%.

Weatherford forecast second quarter earnings of $0.24-$0.26, a penny below the consensus estimate of $0.27 and the company expects “modest” revenue and operating income growth for the full year compared with 2011. The company believes it is well-positioned to take advantage of increased activity in Canada and some US oil basins.

Baker Hughes plans to cut capital expenditures by $400 million for the year and the company said it will solve its supply chain issues this quarter. The company did not offer further guidance for the second quarter, but the consensus estimate calls for EPS of $0.77 on revenues of $5.24 billion.

Halliburton and Schlumberger both topped lowered estimates last week, and National Oilwell Varco is slated to post EPS of $1.39 on revenues of $4.29 billion tomorrow. The company’s EPS estimate is actually higher than the initial estimate of $1.36 and the revenue estimate is more than 25% higher than actual revenue in the same period a year ago.

Baker Hughes’ shares are up 6.7% at $43.85 in a 52-week range of $39.40-$81.00.

Weatherford’s shares are up 3.9% at $14.23 in a 52-week range of $10.85-$22.76.

National Oilwell Varco shares are up 1.9% at $78.74 in a 52-week range of $47.97-$87.72.

Halliburton’s shares are up 2.4% at $33.73 in a 52-week range of $27.21-$57.77, and Schlumberger’s shares are up 2.8% at $73.15 in a 52-week range of $54.79-$95.53.

The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (AMEX: OIH) is up 2% at $40.22 in a 52-week range of $35.80-$45.14.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, Oil & Gas Tagged: BHI, CHK, HAL, NOV, OIH, SLB, WFT

5 Strongest and Weakest Oil & Gas Stock Charts (WMB, EP, PXD, COP, DO, BHI, CHK, COG, SWN, NFX)

Administrator — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:08:44 +0000

24/7 Wall St. has partnered with The Chart Lab to bring exclusive technical analysis which is identifying what are currently the weakest and strongest stock charts of the energy sector from the S&P 500 Index on a year-to-date basis. A 5 is generally listed as the strong buy rating in technical analysis, while a 1 indicates a sell rating. As you would expect these chart signals can change daily or in the coming days.

In this chart using the ChartLab Pro methodology we are showing the top 5 strongest and weakest energy stocks based on the close of April 16th. Cumulatively the top 5 names have outperformed the weakest 5 year to date by 28.92% and 12.79% Month to date. The rankings are not picked by the stocks returns, they are chosen by their technical strength under the ChartLab Pro methodology.

The 5 strongest charts in the energy sector are Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO).

The 5 weakest charts in the energy Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG), Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN), and Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX).

The infographic below is generated by Chartlabpro.com.

Filed under: Charts, Oil & Gas, Technical Analysis Tagged: BHI, CHK, COG, COP, DO, EP, NFX, PXD, SWN, WMB