Can Civeo Weather the Storm of Low Oil?

A little background on Civeo: The company provides workforce accommodations for workers in oil fields and other locales. The company services the Canadian oil sands and Australian mining and natural resource regions. Ideally, this company could be seen as a barometer at these locations of how the oil market is faring.

The company had paid a $0.13 per share quarterly cash dividend, but looking ahead, Civeo suspended its dividend to give the company more financial flexibility. Adding more to the woes, Civeo forecast that revenue could fall by as much as one-third if oil prices remain where they are.

Going into 2015, Civeo has roughly 35% to 40% of its lodge rooms contracted in Canada, which is down more than 75% from the beginning of 2014. As a result the company reduced its headcount in Canadian operations by 30% year-over-year.

Civeo expects 2015 capital expenditures to be in the range of $75 million to $85 million, which is a massive reduction from 2014 estimated capital expenditures of $260 million to $280 million.

ALSO READ: Merrill Lynch’s Top MLP Picks for 2015

President and CEO Bradley Dodson commented on the situation:

As it became evident during the fourth quarter that capital spending budgets among the major oil companies were going to be cut, we began taking steps to reduce marketed room capacity, control costs and curtail discretionary capital expenditures. In Canada, we have since closed our Athabasca and Lakeside lodges and are evaluating similar actions in select other locations. We are limiting our discretionary capital spending in 2015 to those projects that are supported by customer contracts.

As 24/7 Wall St. has previous covered, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) only recently suspended its Canadian exploration operations in the Beaufort Sea. In the letter that Chevron sent to Canada’s National Energy Board, the company explained that the halt was due to the level of economic uncertainty in the oil industry.

Although this particular operation is not located in the Canada oil sands area, Chevron does have a base in the sands, which it is likely to be scaling back. Also looking to explore in the Beaufort Sea area is Imperial Oil Ltd. (NYSEMKT: IMO), which is leading a joint venture between Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and BP PLC (NYSE: BP).

Shares of Civeo were down roughly 50% at $4.08 in the first two hours of trading Tuesday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $12.00 and a 52-week trading range of $4.02 to $28.40. Civeo currently has a market cap of roughly $436 million.

ALSO READ: 5 Cleantech Stocks With Upside Potential of 60% or More in 2015