Here Are the Numbers You Should Really Watch With Ensco

By Tyler Crowe – May 5, 2014 at 3:00PM

OTC: VAL

Valaris plc

Ensco's most recent earnings release had a few red herrings in it. Here's how you can sniff out the things that matter.

Some of the data that companies give us in earnings releases is either (1) useless or (2) misleading. A great example of this was Ensco's (VAL) recent earnings release. With a utilization rate on its higher-priced floating fleet of a measly 68%, it could terrify an investor at first glance. Looking deeper, though, you could see that much of that low utilization rate was because of scheduled downtime and that those rigs were all under contract.

If anything is of concern regarding Ensco's recent performance, it is what will happen throughout the rest of this year. In the video below, find out what will be critical for Ensco's further success.

Tyler Crowe has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow Tyler at Fool.com under the handle TMFDirtyBird, on Google +, or on Twitter @TylerCroweFool.

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