Source: Seadrill.
Diamond Offshore (DO) is due to report its second-quarter results before markets open on Thursday. The deepwater drilling contractor is expected to earn $0.56 per share on $683.8 million in revenue. However, as important as those numbers are to investors, these are not the only important areas to watch this quarter.
Investors should also pay special attention to the company's utilization rate, as well as to the dayrates it is earning on its rigs. Not only do investors want to see both rise, but they will want to see what the company has to say about the direction the numbers are heading moving forward. Furthermore, investors should pay attention to what Diamond Offshore says about the deepwater market in general, as that could move the stocks of industry peers.
Because of that, Seadrill (SDRL) investors should also keep an eye on Diamond Offshore's report. The Thursday earnings release could signal what's ahead when Seadrill reports its second-quarter results. If Diamond Offshore disappoints and its outlook is poor, Seadrill's results might also be expected to underperform.
That being said, there are some key differences between the two companies that could have a bigger impact on Diamond Offshore this quarter. In order to help investors better understand what those difference are and what to watch for this quarter, I created the following slide show. It not only details what could drive Diamond Offshore's results, but it shows where the company could improve in order to close in on Seadrill's strengths.
