Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW) released their quarterly earnings report and spurred a 33.22% gain in share prices to $11.51.
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW) is a global offshore drilling contractor engaged in the drilling and completion of exploratory and developmental oil and gas wells. It has a fleet of approximately 13 mobile offshore drilling units such as Ultra-Deepwater Rigs, Deepwater Semisubmersibles and Jackups.
For the latest financial quarter, revenue came in at $296.351 million, lower than the $350.387 million in revenue for the same quarter a year ago, with net income at $122.437 million versus the previous period’s $39.081 million in net income. Earnings per share stood at $1.89, higher than the previous period’s $0.60 EPS.
“Our strong net income in the second quarter clearly benefited from realization of cost reduction initiatives at the headquarters and field support levels that were implemented during recent quarters, commented Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (NYSE:ATW) CEO Robert J. Saltiel during the conference call. “The discussions that we’ve been having just over the last month or two with this rebound in oil prices has opened up opportunities for further drilling on the margin that we didn’t see even 60 or 90 days ago.”
However, his optimistic outlook on the oil industry hasn’t been observed among other energy-related companies recently, as investors and companies are still waiting to see how the next meeting among the OPEC nations might turn out next month. In their earlier meeting, no decision was made to cap production in an effort to boost prices, although rallies have been seen recently.
The company also shared an update on ongoing negotiations with Petrobras, a consortium of operators in Brazil. “This has admittedly been a longer process than we had hoped, due primarily to the difficult market conditions, but we still expect to bring this important contract to closure,” Saltiel added.
DISCLAIMER: There is a substantial risk of loss with any speculative asset, especially small cap stocks. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not constitute recommendations to buy or sell a stock. Do your own research before committing capital.
