National Oilwell Varco Beats Profit Estimate; Sees Weaker Q4

On a GAAP basis, the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.41, which excludes an impairment charge on intangible assets of $55 million and $57 million in pretax severance, facility closure and other charges.

CEO Clay C. Williams said:

The sharp decline in oil prices and activity since late last year has impacted each of our segments, and will drive activity lower in the fourth quarter. We believe our strong financial resources will enable National Oilwell Varco to invest in the extraordinary opportunities that will arise from this downturn, and we expect to emerge with greater capability and efficiency. In the meantime, with limited visibility into the timing of a recovery, we remain focused on managing costs and improving performance, while continuing to develop technologies that help our customers to improve their returns in a lower commodity price world.

Aside from Williams’s comment that activity will be lower in the current quarter, the company did not offer any guidance in its press announcement. The consensus estimates for the fourth quarter call for EPS of $0.50 on revenues of $3.33 billion, and for the full year the EPS and revenues estimates are $2.95 and $15.55 billion, respectively. Given the Williams comment, those estimates may be too optimistic.

The backlog in the company’s rig systems segment totaled $8.02 billion at the end of the quarter, down 44% year over year. In the completion and production segment, backlog totaled $1.17 billion, also down 44% year over year. New orders combined for the two segments totaled $834 million.

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During the third quarter, National Oilwell Varco completed its share repurchase program, repurchasing and retiring 10.85 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $40.98 per share for a total purchase price of $444 million. Since initiating the share buyback program in September 2014, the company has repurchased 55.6 million shares, or 13% of its shares outstanding.

Shares closed down 4.2% on Tuesday at $35.96 and were inactive Wednesday morning. The stock’s 52-week range is $34.54 to $74.65. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $41.46 before this latest report.