DBS Vickers Securities in a Nov 10 research report says: "Noble booked 3Q10 net profit of US$157.2 million (+19% y-o-y), bringing 9M10 earnings to US$358.1 million (-24% y-o-y) - representing 82% of our initial full year forecast, therefore ahead of our expectations.
"3Q10 revenue of US$14,938 million (+79% y-o-y, 16% q-o-q) was a record, as energy segment revenue rose 23% q-o-q to US$9.8 billion while agriculture revenue jumped 26% to US$3.5 billion. 3Q10 SA&O expenses came in lower than expected and accounted for only 37% of gross profit (vs. our expectation of 50%).
"Noble reported total debt of US$5.9 billion as at the end of Sep10 (+US$1.8 billion higher q-o-q), having issued senior notes and revolving letter of credit. To account for this, lower SA&O, and higher-than-expected energy contribution, we revised our FY2010F-2012F earnings by 5-10%, which resulted in a higher DCF valuation of $2.60, representing 17.9x FY11F PE. UPGRADE TO BUY."



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