PDS Precision Drilling Corporation New

Industry Rank Analysis 8-24-11

While the price of oil is off of its highs earlier this year, it is still running much higher than it was a year ago, and at levels where it is still very profitable for oil companies to go look for it. While the Western economies have slowed, the emerging powers like India and China continue to see robust growth. They are at the stage of development where growth is very energy intensive.

China is now the largest auto market in the world, and virtually every one of the cars sold there represents a net addition to its auto fleet, rather than being a mostly replacement market as is the case in the U.S. and Europe. That means each car sold today will be burning gas for many years to come.

Over time, however, the easy oil has been mostly extracted. Oil companies now have to search in more remote places and have to drill much deeper. In other words, the oil service intensity of oil exploration is rising. That provides a favorable long-term backdrop for the Oil Field Service and Oil and Gas Drilling industries.

Zacks Industry Classifications

The Zacks industry classifications are very fine, with 256 different industries tracked. It is not particularly noteworthy if a single small industry shows up doing well -- a single firm with good news can propel a one or two firm "industry" to the top (or bottom) of the charts.

It is interesting when you see a cluster of similar industries at the top of the list. The same holds true for the bottom of the list. The definition of size that matters here is not the total sales or market capitalization but the number of companies in the “industry.”

Top-Performing Oil & Gas Industries

Oil and Gas Drilling is the smaller of the two “industries” I am highlighting today, with 18 firms. That is still a well above average size for an industry. It is currently in 25th place, an improvement of 16 spots from last week, with an average rank of 2.56, down from 2.61 last week.

The oil and Gas Service industry is much larger, not only in terms of the number of firms (34) but also in the market capitalizations of the firms involved. It is currently in 31st place, and improved three spots on an unchanged average Zacks Rank of 2.59. Significantly, the largest firms in the industry hold either #1 or #2 ranks.

All told, or the 52 firms in these industries, 11 (21.2%) of them hold the enviable Zacks #1 Rank, and an additional 9 (17.3%) have Zacks #2 Ranks. If the Zacks ranks were random, then one would expect that 5% of the names in an industry would be #1s and 15% would be #2s. 

There are three genuine large caps on the lists. Halliburton (HAL) tops the list of Zacks #1 Ranked firms, While Schlumberger (SLB) and Baker Hughes (BHI) top the list of Zacks #2 Ranked firms. The rest are all on the small side of mid cap, ranging down to firms bordering on micro-cap size.

Valuations, particularly if you look out to 2012 earnings are downright compelling. Every one of the number ones has a single-digit P/E based on 2012 earnings. The estimate increases for 2012 earnings are mostly even bigger than those for 2011 earnings.

The combination of rapidly rising expectations, low valuations and a very solid long-term thesis as to why these industries should have a very bright future for a very long time to come could well result in a gusher for your portfolio.

Number 1 Ranked Firms

Company	Ticker	Market Cap ($ mil)	P/E Using Current FY Est	P/E Using Next FY Est	%Ch Curr FY Est - 4 wks	%Ch Next FY Est - 4 wks	Current Price
Halliburton Co	HAL	$34,807	11.44	8.46	0.61%	0.66%	$38.04
Patterson-Uti	PTEN	$3,446	9.92	7.33	4.74%	10.76%	$22.34
Precision Drill	PDS	$3,238	12.36	8.36	7.95%	17.10%	$11.74
Rpc Inc	RES	$3,190	10.04	8.39	3.80%	8.98%	$21.50
Complete Produc	CPX	$1,946	8.67	6.34	4.11%	11.55%	$24.65
Key Energy Svcs	KEG	$1,790	12.89	7.19	12.57%	18.27%	$12.54
Helix Egy Solut	HLX	$1,532	11.36	9.09	53.45%	41.65%	$14.45
Basic Egy Svcs	BAS	$828	9.89	6.75	0.88%	7.82%	$19.62
Newpark Resour	NR	$651	10.22	8.36	2.65%	4.69%	$7.20
Parker Drilling	PKD	$592	11.07	7.12	42.24%	21.50%	$5.07
Tgc Industries	TGE	$112	5.81	4.47	0.00%	0.00%	$5.81

Number 2 Ranked Firms

Company	Ticker	Market Cap ($ mil)	P/E Using Current FY Est	P/E Using Next FY Est	%Ch Curr FY Est - 4 wks	%Ch Next FY Est - 4 wks	Current Price
Schlumberger Lt	SLB	$99,219	19.13	13.41	2.67%	5.52%	$73.12
Baker-Hughes	BHI	$23,827	12.75	9.33	3.31%	6.67%	$54.82
Core Labs Nv	CLB	$4,776	28.06	22.08	1.03%	1.71%	$104.80
Atwood Oceanics	ATW	$2,488	9.45	9.21	1.84%	0.95%	$38.40
Unit Corp	UNT	$2,090	10.95	9.02	3.70%	2.12%	$43.38
Seacor Hldgs	CKH	$1,812	22.02	11.54	2.70%	0.00%	$83.67
Gulfmark Offshr	GLF	$902	19.48	8.7	13.65%	7.59%	$34.05
Pioneer Drillng	PDC	$608	36.62	13.76	13.17%	14.83%	$11.19
Sinotech Energy	CTE	$155	3.56	2.26	3.94%	0.00%	$2.35

In evaluating the Zacks Industry Ranks, you want to see two things: a good overall score (low, meaning more Zacks #1 and #2 Ranked stocks than #4 or #5 Ranked stocks) and some improvement the relative position from the prior week. It is also helpful to understand exactly what the Zacks Industry Rank is.

The Zacks Industry Rank is the un-weighted average of the individual Zacks ranks of the firms in that industry. It does not matter if the stock is the 800 lb gorilla that dominates the industry or some very small niche player in the industry -- they have the same influence on the industry rank.

Also, that means that the bigger the industry in terms of number of firms, the less influence any given company has on the industry rank. It also implies that small industries, with just two or three firms, should be the ones found at either the top or the bottom of the list. After all, if there are only two firms in the industry, it is relatively easy to get a Zacks rank of 2.00 (i.e. one with a Zacks Rank of #1 and the other with a #3). Right now, that industry rank would be tied for 6th place among the 255 industries tracked.

The same obviously goes for the bottom of the list as well. If there are 50 firms in the industry, and it ends up at one of the extremes, that means there has to be something pretty significant going on. Thus, I do not always focus on the very highest rated industries, but on the highest rated ones in which there are a large number of firms.

Click here for the Zacks Industry Rank List: http://www.zacks.com/zrank/zrank_inds.php
 
BAKER-HUGHES (BHI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
HALLIBURTON CO (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
PRECISION DRILL (PDS): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
RPC INC (RES): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SCHLUMBERGER LT (SLB): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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