What happened
Volatility continued for shares of Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) on Wednesday. The oil-field service specialist's stock fell more than 10% by 10:45 a.m. EDT after the company postponed the release of its first-quarter results. That marked another double-digit move for Weatherford's shares, which have swung wildly this month after the company proposed enacting a reverse stock split to bolster its share price.
So what
Weatherford International announced last night that it would postpone the release of its first-quarter results -- which it was supposed to unveil today -- until Friday morning. Furthermore, the company canceled its quarterly conference call. Weatherford didn't provide a reason for the change, which left investors to fear the worst.
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The company might have needed more time to fix an error discovered in the release. However, that doesn't explain why it didn't also reschedule the quarterly conference call. That left investors to speculate that Weatherford might not be able to discuss what's in the report. There could be a range of reasons for this, including scheduling conflicts that it needs to work out or because of a corporate action such as a decision to file for bankruptcy or a merger with another entity.
Now what
Weatherford International has struggled mightily since oil prices crashed in 2014. The company hasn't made a profit in several years, which has eroded its financial profile. While its management team has worked hard to turn things around, including selling assets to whittle down debt, Weatherford hasn't shown enough improvement to convince investors that it's on the right track. As such, it now has even more riding on its upcoming report, which could unveil the fate of this struggling oil-field service company.
