Why McDermott International's Shares Dropped Today

By Travis Hoium – Mar 4, 2014 at 5:18PM

NYSE: MDR

McDermott International

Is this meaningful or just another movement?

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 energy engineering company McDermott International (MDR) fell as much as 10.6% today after the company reported earnings.

So what: Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 48% from a year ago to $517 million and fell way short of the $820.1 million analysts expected. A net loss of $324 million, or $1.37 per share, was also far below the $0.15 per share profit analysts expected.

Now what: New CEO David Dickson took over late in the quarter and is already trying to streamline operations to improve long-term profitability. The short-term impact is a lot of charges related to prior projects and other write-offs. I'd like to see the operational improvement before jumping in, because the revenue and earnings figures were alarmingly bad last quarter.

Travis Hoium and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.