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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: profile_14 who wrote (99441)	4/19/2008 11:14:37 AM
From: tom pope	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206085

Merrill on SLB Well telegraphed 1Q miss a non-event; Buy Schlumberger reported 1Q08 operating EPS of $1.05 vs. our $1.12 and consensus of $1.13. The miss was widely expected given public comments by SLB the last few weeks. A big q/q decline in WesternGeco multi-client was the biggest delta to our estimate ($89mm EBIT), but softer margins ex-ME/Asia also factored. Commentary on growth for 2008+ was notably constructive, pleasing investors looking for a tone improvement. We also liked the implied message in new stock repo program ($8bn). Maybe not a “transition year”; `09 growth greater than`08 SLB’s near term and long term view was incrementally more bullish. Chairman & CEO Andrew Gould backed away from his cautious `08 transition year comments from 4Q07. A 2H08 up tick in NA and added pressure in some international regions due to production shortfalls have the company seeing solid growth this year. Even better were comments on `09 growth being above `08. The long term view was also more bullish with only a negative demand shock (i.e. global recession) or evolutionary switch toward other fuel sources able to bring the cycle to an end. Growth remains top line oriented in our view, as Gould side-stepped the margins “topping-out” question. North America inflection point in 2H08; `09 looks good Pricing for NA pumping services is bottoming and could be on an upward path by Y-E. Inquiries are up and producer spending is set to rise. SLB also noted that other NA services continue to have modest pricing upside. This is a second half story that aligns with our bullish view of the NA market. A concern could be SLB’s lower relative leverage to NA than peers (i.e. HAL, WFT). Seismic still strong; WesternGeco results to be lumpier Many questions pertained to the seismic business. We see the issues as just timing delays. W.Geco is booked through `08 and they are not concerned about capacity growth being a factor until 2010. Highly profitable multi-client work looks set to surge again as recent lease sales and new E-octopus surveys contribute in 2H08, recouping some of the 1Q08 short fall. There are no full year changes to our current estimates

To: profile_14 who wrote (99441)	4/19/2008 12:48:27 PM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206085

SLB. Profile 14, my point again is that the stock seems inexpensive to me when I look at current cash flow/sh. and estimated cashflow/sh compared to its past cash flow metric. SLB is SLB...the premier and dominant company in its arena. Whether it trades at double cash/flow per share compared to competitors is only relevant imo if that is an unusual occurrence. I see on the chart where earnings drop once in a while (sequential quarter). They also come back. If you are saying that SLB at current price is a hold or avoid or a short, based on the way you look at this stock/company, that's fine with me. Your assessment could prove true in coming days/months. Your opinion seems consistent over time: from what I see, there's no point in the past few years where you ever posted that you were buying SLB. For me, I'm only sorry I didn't buy earlier and more and didn't hold on through the stock's rise. With the few shares I recently have bought, I am satisfied to hold on.