Oilfield services company
National Oilwell Varco
(
NOV
) is scheduled to report its fourth quarter and full year 2011
results on February 2, 2012, before the opening bell.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the upcoming quarter is a
profit of $1.30 per share on revenues of $110.4 billion. For the
full year, our earnings per share projection is $4.69 on revenues
of $470.1 billion.
Third Quarter 2011 Recap
National Oilwell reported better-than-expected third-quarter
2011 results earnings per share (excluding transaction charges) of
$1.26, comfortably above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17 and
the year-ago adjusted profit of 97 cents.
Quarterly revenue rose 24.2% year over year from $3,011.0
million to $3,740.0 million and was 2.4% above our projection.
(Read our full coverage on this earnings report:
National Oilwell 3Q Earnings Jump
)
Agreement of Analysts
Analysts exhibit a positive sentiment for National Oilwell in
the upcoming quarter based on its strong financial base, robust
backlog, improved outlook in the drilling scenario and the
company's technologically sophisticated drilling equipments.
For the fourth quarter, out of the 20 analysts covering the
stock, 3 analysts have increased their estimates, while none
decreased the same in the last 30 days. In the last 7 days, only
one analyst has revised the estimate upward while none moved in the
opposite direction.
For fiscal 2011, 2 analysts (out of 21 analysts) hiked their
estimates while none reduced the projection over the past one
month. In the last seven days, no estimate revision was
noticed.
Magnitude of Estimate Revisions
Considering the analysts' earnings revision, the Zacks Consensus
Estimate for the fourth quarter upped by a penny to $1.30 in the
last 30 days. Over the past 7 days, the estimate remained
unchanged
For the full year, estimate remained static at $4.69 over the
last one month and one week.
Surprise History
The company has a history of positive earnings surprises,
surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate in 3 of the last 4
quarters. The company recorded a minimum surprise of negative 0.99%
in first quarter 2011 to a maximum of 12.87% in second quarter
2011. On an average, the earnings surprise stood at 7.24%.
Our Recommendation
We are maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on
National Oilwell shares.
We appreciate the company's healthy backlog, solid balance sheet
and strength in international operations, particularly in the
Middle East and Brazil. The APL acquisition has further boosted
National Oilwell's earnings visibility by expanding its floating
production storage and offloading vessel ("FPSO") productline; one
of the fastest-growing areas of the offshore market.
However, we believe that the shares of National Oilwell are
fairly valued at current levels, considering the sensitivity of the
business to gas/oil price volatility, as well as exploration and
production spending patterns, costs, geo-political risks,
competition and the advent of new technologies.
Another prominent energy service firm,
Cameron International Corporation
(
CAM
) will also report its fourth quarter earnings tomorrow.
CAMERON INTL (
CAM
): Free Stock Analysis Report
NATL OILWELL VR (
NOV
): Free Stock Analysis Report
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