Oil Drilling Stks Up: Continued Volatility Seen
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of oil-drilling companies traded higher across the board Monday as analysts raised their ratings for the sector.
Analysts said stocks were undervalued following last week's dramatic decline in the sector, triggered by oil price volatility following questions about OPEC quota compliance. On Monday, oil prices stabilized somewhat as reassurances from Iran and Saudi Arabia seemed to ease traders' concerns that supplies would rise.
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Wesley Maat cautioned that although "the pendulum has shifted for now," the current earnings period would likely be "tempestuous" for the companies. He attributed Monday's rise to "near-term trading" after the stocks got "bashed" last week.
Lehman Brothers analyst Jim Crandell cited increased day rates for natural gas drillers in the Gulf of Mexico as the main factor in his upgrade of Ensco International Inc. (ESV), Global Marine Inc. (GLM), Noble Drilling Corp. (NE) and Rowan Companies Inc. (RDC). He raised all four companies to "outperform" from "neutral".
According to Crandell, higher natural-gas prices and the onset of winter were raising demand for drilling companies' services.
Crandell said that although he did not see "any surprises" this quarter, higher-than-expected increases in day-rates might cause analysts to revise earnings estimates upward for fiscal year 2000.
Frost Securities analyst Lewis Kreps, who upgraded eight energy service stocks Monday morning, said in his note that he viewed the stocks' decline as a "buying opportunity."
Kreps wrote that the impact of declining oil prices and "lower-than-expected financial performance" by oil service companies in the third quarter should be short-term, because "oil prices anywhere above $17 per barrel should be viewed as extremely bullish and should motivate aggressive spending by exploration and production companies in 2000."
However, Deutsche Bank's Maat warned that "a lot of this is near-term trading," and "there may be negative surprises if a lot of bad news appears" when earnings are announced.
The Dow Jones market-capitalization-weighted index of oil-drilling stocks is up 9.2% to 245.74. The index includes nine drilling companies.
New York Stock Exchange-listed shares of Ensco recently traded at 19 3/16 a share, up 14.6% or 2 7/16 a share, on composite volume of 2.5 million shares. Average daily volume is 895,281 shares.
Rowan's NYSE-listed shares recently traded at 16 3/16 a share, up 1 1/2 or 10.2%, on composite volume of 2 million shares. Average daily volume is 807,366 shares.
NYSE-listed shares of Noble Drilling recently traded at 21 11/16 a share, up 12.3% or 2 3/8 a share, on composite volume of 2 million shares. Average daily volume is 961,140 shares.
NYSE-listed shares of Global Marine recently traded at 16 5/16 a share, up 13.5% or 1 15/16 a share, on composite volume of 3 million shares. Average daily volume is 1.5 million shares.
American Stock Exchange-listed shares of Nabors Industries Inc. (NBR) recently traded at 23 5/16 a share, up 12% or 2 1/2 a share, on composite volume of 1.5 million shares. Average daily volume is 962,903 shares.
-By Lucy Hornby; Dow Jones News; 201-938-5174
Crude up 0.30 in after hours trading.
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