About eight months ago, I went hype hunting, and Atwood Oceanics
I've been wrong on Atwood because I've underestimated the earning power of the company's fleet. The Atwood Eagle, Hunter, and Falcon are 5,000-foot rigs, so their depth capability falls just short of industry watcher ODS-Petrodata's deepwater floating-rig category. Still, the dayrates for these units, not to mention the 2000 Atwood Southern Cross semisubmersible, are dynamite, given their subpremium status.
In the company's fiscal first quarter, the fleet generated $111 million in revenue, representing 25% year-over-year growth. With drilling costs only 4% higher, contract drilling margins were able to expand from 45% to 54%. Atwood still has a long way to go to catch margin maestros Noble
For example, the Eagle is currently working for BHP Billiton
This is an example of the booming backlog that a company like Transocean
Related Foolishness:
- Noble's up to its usual thrilling drilling.
- Meanwhile, this contractor struggles heroically in the shallow water.