Contract Drillers
Why We’re Still Bearish on Offshore Contract Drillers
We’ve been bearish on offshore contract drillers since fall 2013 and see no reason to change our tune. We dropped SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) from our Focus List in September 2013 because the stock had hit ...
Oil-Field Services and Equipment: Exercise Caution
Despite the Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index’s roughly 20 percent rally from its Jan. 20 low, we continue to regard this link in the energy value chain as one of the most challenged in the ...
Key Takeaways from Schlumberger’s Fourth-Quarter Earnings Call
Schlumberger’s wide-ranging earnings calls have long provided investors with useful insights into trends and developments affecting links throughout the energy value chain, thanks to the firm’s forthright management team and the breadth of its oil-field ...
Warren Buffett’s Biggest Mistake: A Warning for “Value” Investors
In May 1807, Samuel Blodget completed a canal and lock system that allowed boats to bypass the 54-foot high Amoskeag Falls near the town of Derryfield, New Hampshire. A group of entrepreneurs soon realized the ...
The Oil Down-Cycle: Lessons from the Past
There’s something odd about Battlement Mesa, a town with a population of 3,500 that’s a three-hour drive west of Denver on Interstate 70. More than three decades ago, the urban planners behind Battlement Mesa built ...
IPO Analysis: Ocean Rig Partners LP (NSDQ: ORLP)
Offshore contract driller Ocean Rig UDW (NSDQ: ORIG) has followed SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) and Transocean’s (NYSE: RIG) lead and filed an initial registration statement for an MLP that will own rigs that operate under longer-term ...
New MLPs on the Seas
Transocean Partners LLC (NYSE: RIGP) Like Aggressive Model Portfolio holding SeaDrill Partners LLC (NYSE: SDLP), Transocean Partners LLC owns ultra-deepwater drilling rigs that earn fixed day-rates from multiyear contracts. A spin-off of contract drilling giant ...
Five Myths about SeaDrill That Could Cost You Real Money
We first recommended SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) in 2007 and pounded the table for the contract driller’s stock after the Macondo oil spill in 2010. But we dropped SeaDrill from our Focus List in September 2013 ...
Offshore Contract Drillers: Lessons from the Tanker Industry
Between 1998 and 2008, global demand for crude oil expanded rapidly, driven by surging consumption in China, India and other emerging markets. Over this 10-year period, global imports from emerging markets soared by 8.7 million ...
Why SeaDrill Still Rates a Sell
We dropped SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) from our Focus List in September 2013, when the stock had surged to $45.00 per share--more than $12.00 above the current quote. As far back as 2007, SeaDrill had been ...
04/19/14: SeaDrill’s Pain is This New Portfolio Holding’s Gain
A loosening supply-demand balance and the prospect of weaker day-rates are bad news for SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) and other contract drillers. (See Why SeaDrill Still Rates a Sell.) But SeaDrill Partners LLC (NYSE: SDLP), a ...
Real Talk about Energy Investing
Every month, Roger Conrad and I host an exclusive Live Chat with Energy & Income Advisor subscribers. Given the breadth of the publication’s coverage universe, these informal conversations are wide-ranging, tackling whatever issues and questions ...
Drill Tips
In the Sept. 29, 2013, issue of Energy & Income Advisor, we dropped offshore driller SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) from our Focus List, encouraging readers to take profits on the stock. (See Narrowing Our Focus.) This ...
Focus List — Less is More
We designed Energy & Income Advisor to be the most comprehensive financial advisory covering this popular sector. Our coverage universe includes every energy-related master limited partnership (MLP), more than 70 dividend-paying Canadian energy stocks and ...
Transocean Proposes Huge Dividend Increase, But There are Other Drillers in the Sea
On Nov. 11, 2013, shares of offshore drilling giant Transocean (NYSE: RIG) rallied by almost 4 percent after the company announced plans to pursue a more shareholder-friendly strategy that involves: Boosting the dividend to $3.00 ...
Shelf Life
When I founded my former energy-focused investment advisory, one of the publication’s first stock picks was TODCO, or The Offshore Drilling Company, a contract driller that leased jack-up rigs to upstream operators in the shallow-water ...
Into the Deep
Focus List holding SeaDrill (NYSE: SDRL) in late October sponsored the initial public offering (IPO) of a new partnership, Seadrill Partners LLC (NYSE: SDLP). The IPO was popular with investors, with the units pricing at ...
Under Pressure: Profit Margins on North American Hydraulic Fracturing
The end of easy oil is a secular trend that will provide a long-term tailwind for the services industry. However, investors also need to be attuned to short-term downdrafts and updrafts in this cyclical industry ...
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Oil Bears Everywhere
On October 16, 2008 The New York Times published an opinion piece written by billionaire investing legend Warren Buffett titled “Buy American. I Am.” Investors ...
Profiting from the Energy Supercycle
Roger Conrad and Elliott Gue discuss all things energy, including a look at some of our top recommendations for 2023.
Natural Gas Tumbles Below $3.50/MMBtu
Some readers have asked for an update on our outlook for US natural gas prices considering the near 70% plunge in front-month gas futures since ...
Beware (Some) Energy Companies’ Floating Rate Debt Bomb
Q4 earnings reporting season is still more than month off for the energy sector. But midstream leader Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) has announced its preliminary ...