Third Quarter Earnings Season

The third quarter was of course an entire world ago, pre global economic meltdown, when China was still expected to roar back after its great Olympics before orders were cancelled and charterers began handing back ships and FFA settlement days loomed like an executioner. So it may come as no surprise to our readers that company after company has reported earnings and dividends in line with financial analysts predictions. We tip our hat to the stewards of these companies, especially OSG and Eagle where earnings and then subsequent conference calls accomplished what we had hoped for, clear, confident and distinguishing attributes. Companies like Torm and OSG are on their way to their best years ever and Eagle has earnings visibility stretching way forward while DRYS is selling at a .69 P/E in other words for less than its ‘08 earnings.

Written by: carisk | Categories: Freshly Minted, Market Commentary | November 6th, 2008 | Add a Comment

BUY! BUY! BUY! Results to Please Just About Anyone

It’s been earnings season the past two weeks and if there were ever a question about whether shipping could avoid a hit due to the sub- prime crisis, well, this should answer it.

For fun, here are a few analyst comments on recent returns… From Dahlman Rose:

Dahlman/Eagle Bulk Shipping – 1Q Operating Results Stronger Than Expected; In Solid Position to Re-Charter Vessels as Rates Continue Pushing Higher

We believe Eagle’s aggressive approach to re-chartering its vessels will payoff as the market has exceeded our expectations. During the past few weeks we have seen several long-term time fixtures as charterers look to secure vessels in the face of a rising market. We maintain our Buy rating and $33/share target, based on a 10% 2009 CF yield, ahead of the earnings call this morning.

Eagle’s share price jumped more than 10% following their conference call!

TMI?

What a week for investors! Starting with CMA’s annual event, continuing with JPMorgan’s Conference and concluding with the Capital Link Forum, it is conceivable that even the most interested observer of the industry may have suffered from information overload. Thankfully, with Good Friday, many of us had the opportunity to recover with a long-weekend.

Despite the early start, the Capital Link Forum played to a full house. There were company presentations galore interspersed with lively and informative panel discussions. With far too much information to distill, here is a highly selected compendium of our outtakes.

Written by: carisk | Categories: Freshly Minted, Market Commentary | March 27th, 2008 | Add a Comment

DRYS Crosses the BIFFEX

The accompanying graph should appear in the pitch book of every investor relations firm that is marketing services to the shipping industry. As you can see from the graph, DRYS shares have largely followed the pattern exhibited by the underlying Baltic Index – until last week when George Econmou and CFO Chris Thomas were out on the road seeing investors and appearing CNBC’s Squawk Box, Bloomberg TV and MarketWatch.