Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of drilling service contractor Basic Energy Services, Inc (BASX) jumped 16% after the company reported earnings.
So what: Fourth-quarter revenue was up 2%, to $308.0 million, in line with what analysts expected. It still reported a loss of $7.4 million, or $0.18 per share, but that was $0.08 better than estimates, so that's what investors liked today.
Now what: Rigs count was basically flat last year, and that didn't help Basic Energy Services' operations last year. Losses are actually growing, which isn't a good sign for any company, especially one that investors expect to swing to a profit at the end of 2014. This stock is just too high a risk for me today, and I'd wait for operations to turn around before jumping in.
