Before we dig into this quarter's report by Transocean (NYSE:RIG), I thought I should point out that the company has not "gone dark" and ceased filing with the SEC. It looks that way if you plug the stock ticker into EDGAR, and see that the latest filing is a "Suspension of duty to report" form dating back to March.
You'll recall that the company scuttled off to Switzerland alongside Noble (NYSE:NE) and Weatherford (NYSE:WFT) this past year. For some reason, you can still find those other firms' current filings using their tickers. As for Transocean, you have to search by company name, and then select "Transocean Ltd."
Now that we've cleared that up, let's take a look at the numbers. Transocean's quarterly revenue of $2.8 billion was off 12% compared to last year. Per-share earnings dropped by more than a third, though there were some one-off items like a large legal bill muddling the comparison somewhat. Field operating income, a useful alternative measure of Transocean's earning power, fell 19%.
Revenue efficiency -- which compares Transocean's revenue to the maximum that could have been earned under contracts with clients such as Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) -- hit 95% in the period, the highest since the second quarter of last year. Operating rig costs, the expense component that deals directly with drilling activity, dropped to their lowest level in a year, but that's to be expected when fleet utilization is falling. While Transocean's premium deepwater rigs achieved 88% utilization in the quarter, the fleetwide number fell to 75% from 89% last year and 84% last quarter.
As with Ensco (NYSE:ESV) -- which is down, but not out -- stacked jackups are whacking Transocean's overall utilization number. As readers like ValuePEG have pointed out, however, that reflects the company's willingness to impose discipline on the marketplace and protect dayrates from falling even further. Echoing Rowan Companies (NYSE:RDC), Transocean cited increased tendering activity in this market, and suggested that a bottom may be in place.
The bottom line is that the ultra-deepwater remains "the bright spot" in the current environment, and Transocean is very well suited to capitalize on that trend. The firm's 10-rig newbuild program is 70% complete, and the company has floated by possibility of an eleventh newbuild order by the end of the year. The long view on deepwater drilling remains unchanged.
