What: September was a month to forget for C&J Energy Services (NYSE: CJES) as the stock was just hammered. While some of the downdraft was caused by persistently weak oil prices, which fell 8.5% last month, there were two other news items putting downward pressure on the stock: one from an analyst that covers the company and the other from C&J Energy Services itself.
So what: In the middle of the month, an analyst from Citi reiterated his cautious view on the oil-field service sector. The analyst now foresees a 15%-20% drop in E&P spending next year, which will hit smaller oil-field service stocks like C&J Energy Services very hard. In fact, the analyst projected that there would be "material negative revisions" across that sector of the industry.
That's exactly what C&J Energy Services did at the end of the month as it cut its third-quarter sales outlook. It now sees a 15% decline in sales over just last quarter. Further, C&J Energy Services also said that it had renegotiated the terms of its revolving credit facility with its lenders, resulting in its borrowing base dropping from $600 million to $400 million, slicing $200 million from its liquidity. This news also sliced a huge chunk off the company's market cap as we see in the following chart.
Now what: It's a really tough market for oil-field services companies these days, especially smaller niche companies like C&J Energy Services. There are no signs on the horizon as to when conditions will improve and that lack of visibility is causing a lot of volatility. Investors can expect both of those trends to continue for the foreseeable future.
