Energy

Credit Suisse Sets Record Straight on NOV

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) saw what felt like an unusual reaction to its $3 billion stock buyback announced on Tuesday. Its shares slid after the news and the halt ended, not a usual reaction for when a company announces a buyback of nearly 10% of its outstanding shares. When we looked back at the past reporting and analysis, we looked at S&P’s upgrade from late 2013 and saw a warning that a downgrade could result if the company made too large an acquisition or too large a stock buyback. Well, we have at least one analyst who is debunking the broader concerns now.

A research report was issued by Credit Suisse on Wednesday covering NOV. With the stock trading under $76, it is quite positive — the firm’s Jim Wichlund has an Outperform rating and $95 price target, implying 25% upside, without considering the 2.2% dividend yield.

Wicklund’s article is meant to debunk myths and other issues surrounding NOV. His report, “Top 10 Issues With NOV Shares Today,” addresses the following points, taken verbatim from the report:

  1. Hedge funds feel safe to be short now. Headline risk is gone.
  2. Conspiracy Theory 101. “They know they are going to miss Q3 and guide down, and it will kill the stock so they want to have the authorization in place when it happens.”
  3. Reality. They could miss Q3, though we were told to read nothing into the timing. But most investors have been more negative than NOV’s management for a while, and the companies themselves are usually the last to know. And if one thought the market and one’s stock was going to continue to go down with oil prices dropping and a sharper drop in orders than one expected, then one would want to have a buyback in place too, to take long-term advantage over what almost has to be a short-lived event.
  4. Longer-term … we have to keep producing some level of oil and gas, regardless of price, and the maintenance of that production provides a stable and high base level of activity and cash flow.
  5. Near-term … oil prices can be volatile with U.S. Congressional votes and Saudi Arabian politics two of the biggest industry issues today.
  6. Oil prices can and will go down. Statement of fact. Any other statements about price or timing are utter speculation. The most likely case is that in a short period of time, nominated in just a year or two, activity and spending will increase as higher decline curves require increased capital to maintain production. And since the U.S. produces on unconventional hyperbolic and the rest of the world produces on a conventional hyperbolic, overproduction will correct very quickly.
  7. Growth will slow and at some point, bottom. When that happens, earnings and cash flow will begin to increase again or increase at a faster rate, depending on the magnitude of any slower spending.
  8. The $64,000 Question remains. What oil price will mark the low in spending over the next couple of years, and when will it get there.
  9. In Transition. NOV will build 80% of most everything the industry uses for the foreseeable future and now pulling all the levers to move from a growth to a total return stock in a very positive revaluation.
  10. Paid to Wait. What future growth will be and when it occurs are very much unknown at present but NOV has a 9.96% free cash flow yield, is net debt free and is reducing its share count by 9%.

NOV shares were down 0.8% at $75.50 in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday, against a 52-week range of $65.53 to $86.55. Much of Wednesday’s drop can be tied to a weak stock market. This $95 price target is above the Thomson Reuters consensus price target of just under $91. The highest analyst price target in the Thomson Reuters sphere is up a tad higher at $100.

Needless to say, Credit Suisse’s Jim Wicklund is not bothered at all by the news. In fact, he sees big upside ahead for NOV.

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