Der Kurs kommt zwar etwas ins stottern, aber vielleicht gibt der Artikel trotzdem noch einen kleinen Push :
There's nothing like performance to bring investors out of the woodwork. Take this year's ongoing UBS Warburg Energy Conference -- the first such conference since Warburg bought PaineWebber last year. Compared to the much smaller crowds last year, more than 700 investors are expected to flock to the Grand Hyatt in Midtown Manhattan to listen to energy companies project powerful earnings forecasts for the coming year.
Natural gas prices at $6 per share and oil at $30 per share can certainly excite investors. And given the presentations by several energy services and drilling companies on Tuesday, executives are excited about the prospects as well.
Like A Good 'Nabor'
For Nabors Industries' (NBR:Amex - news) Chairman and CEO Eugene Isenberg, the oil patch doesn't get much better than this. "It's somewhere between very good and unbelievable," he said, describing his assessment of the prospects for the oil services sector. His perspective is long term, having joined Exxon (XOM:NYSE - news) in 1955, after completing his schooling at UMass and Princeton and a stint in the Navy.
His tenure in the industry, combined with his position as head of the dominant land-rig operator in the world, lends his opinion of the industry's future a lot of weight. "We're in a tight market and I think we will be for some time," he said. "The major exploitable is the North American gas market."
And, it's a market Nabors is positioned to take advantage of. "The company has the largest fleet of deep drilling rigs, which is likely to benefit the most from an expansion in North America gas drilling," said UBS Warburg energy services analyst Jamie Stone in a report prepared for conference attendees. "Nabor's earnings are accelerating as drilling activity picks up and rig day rates and margins begin to rise." He rates Nabors strong buy with a $71 12-month price target. His firm has not provided banking services for the company.
As exploration and production companies push for additional drilling rigs, Nabors will benefit. According to Isenberg, Nabors has 60% of the remaining industry capacity. "We will put 150-180 new rigs to work in the coming year," he said. With demand pushing rig rates to new highs, margins expand with additional cash flowing to the bottom line. Estimates call for Nabors to earn $2.10 in 2001, up from 89 cents last year, with cash flow increasing to $4.09 this year from $2.36 in 2000.
The ramp-up in rig development has surprised even Isenberg. "We're bringing out more rigs than anyone would have guessed two years ago," he said. "People are surprised at the number of rigs we could bring out and the rates we can get for even a mechanical rig."
While the longtime oilman is happy with operations at home, he thinks Nabors' international business still has room to improve. "Offshore, things are going a little slower," he said. "International business is slower than we expected, although it is picking up."
As for the future of Nabors, a company that has grown significantly through acquisitions, Isenberg believes additional merger opportunities are limited. "I don't think there are many things in the Lower 48," he said. "There are international assets we could buy and bring them back here."
However, Nabors has more than $1.2 billion in cash, which Warburg's Stone thinks points to additional acquisitive growth. "The company has successfully integrated its latest acquisition -- Poole Energy Services -- and is likely to continue to augment its growth through acquisitions."
While some analysts say the stock is expensive -- currently trading at nearly 30 times next year's earnings and 15 times its cash flows -- the company remains the clear leader among land-based drillers. "There will be 1,300 total U.S. rigs by the end of 2001," says Isenberg. "Eighty to 90% will be land rigs, and we'll have over half of those." |