Fuel Your Portfolio With BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP): The Best-Run Commodities Company In The World

by Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

Some companies just stand out – both in their own sectors and in the larger market.

Australian firm BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) is one of them.

As the largest and most diversified commodities producer in the world, BHP has leading positions in most key, low-cost, metal and mineral deposits in the world.

And as if that weren’t enough, it also has a solid position in oil, thanks to its petroleum division, which had operating profits of $4 billion last year.

Impressively, that total only made the petroleum division BHP’s third-best performer in 2008. Its iron ore segment scooped up $6.23 billion, while base metals enjoyed a $4.62 billion operating profit.

Crucially, that sets BHP’s oil division apart from its competitors. Not only

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Cameron International Corp.’s (CAM) third quarter results were better than expected, as margins held up well during the period. Earnings per share, excluding severance-related costs, came in at 57 cents, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 53 cents.   However, on a year-over-year basis, Cameron’s adjusted earnings per share fell 19.7%, reflecting slowdown in energy demand that hampered drilling activities. Gross profit during the period came at $403.8 million, down 11% year over year, as revenues fell 18.1% to $1.2 billion. However, gross profit margin rose approximately 261 basis points year-over-year to 32.8%, driven by cost reductions.   DPS Segment   Revenues for the DPS segment totaled $791.5 million, a decrease of 17.3% from the year-ago quarter, mainly due to the timing of certain subsea project deliveries. The DPS segment EBITDA fell 8.8% year-over-year to $171.8 million.   V&M Segment   Quarterly revenues in the Valves & Measurement ...

L & L International Holdings Inc. is a U.S.-based company operating coal businesses in China. The company today announced an agreement with Hon Shen Coal Company in China, in which L&L will acquire a 93 percent stake in Hon Shen’s coking facilities, as well as a 28 percent interest in Hon Shen’s coal washing facilities.

The coal washing facilities have aggregate coal washing capacity of 300,000 tons, 210,000 tons from the coal washing plant and an existing 90,000-ton plant. Hon Shen’s coking facilities have a combined annual production capacity of 150,000 tons.

L&L expects these facilities to add roughly $18 million in additional revenue to its books within one year, using $150 per ton of coking coal as a basis.

Dickson Lee, chairman and CEO of L&L, said the acquisition of Hon Shen’s facilities supports L&L’s expansion efforts to meet its end-point of efficiently serving the energy demand in China.

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• Aetna (NYSE:AET) reported third quarter earnings of 69 cents a share, 3 cents better than Zacks estimates, on revenues of $8.72 billion, up 14.4%.  The company sees full year earnings of $2.75 a share

• OfficeMax (NYSE:OMX) posted third quarter earnings of 8 cents, 6 cents below Zacks estimates on inline revenues of $1.83 billion, down 12.6%. The firm issued cautious guidance, anticipating macro employment trends will not turn positive well into 2010

• Nintendo (NASDAQ:NTDOY) posted first half profits off 52% to $768 million, while sales dropped 34.5%. The company slashed its dividend for the first half by 37%

• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) reported third quarter earnings of 79 cents a share, 24 cents above Zacks estimates, as revenues of $2.05 billion, up 49.5%, bested Zacks estimates of $1.78 billion

• Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) reported a 73% drop in net profit, with earnings ex-items of $2.62 billion slightly ahead of estimates

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Construction and mining equipment manufacturer Terex Corporation (TEX) announced its third quarter results recently. The company reported wider-than-expected net loss for the quarter. Terex posted a net loss of 77 cents per share, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a net loss of 33 cents. Profits in the Cranes and Materials Processing & Mining segments were more than offset by losses in the Aerial Work Platforms and Construction segments. The company had posted net profit of 96 cents per share in the comparable quarter of 2008. Net sales during the quarter declined 51.2% to $1,226.1 million from $2,514.6 million in the third quarter of 2008 due to weak sales at all of the company’s businesses, as well as an unfavorable foreign currency translation impact. Sales declined in all the four segments due to the impact of the global economic slowdown on target markets. Order backlog ...

  In its weekly release on Friday, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported a slight dip in the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S., as producers restricted their drilling activities in response to the current supply overhang in the natural gas market. The number of units exploring and producing in the U.S. fell to 1,040 for the week ended October 16 (as clear from the first chart below from Baker Hughes). This is down by 1 from the previous week’s tally and is the first decline in 5 weeks. The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 936 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended August 29 and September 12. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. decreased by 5 to ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 13, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), Halliburton Company (HAL), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), National-Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

U.S. Rig Count Continues to Climb

According to data from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S. rose for the week ended Oct. 9, reflecting ramped up drilling activity by the producers amid recent optimism about

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Markets advanced Monday morning, with oil reaching a 6-week high above $73 a barrel, a rally in European stocks after Royal Philips Electronics announced its glowing earnings report, and a general sense of economic recovery. Going into a foreseeably light Columbus Day of trading, a weaker dollar has pushed all major energy and commodities sectors notably higher, extending last week’s gains, in anticipation of an onslaught by a spate of Q3 earnings data over the next few weeks.

Intel is poised to offer solid earnings data Tuesday afternoon and many investors are expecting a bullish Q4 outlook from the company, setting a positive tone for chip manufacturers. Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) and Cypress Semiconductor (CY) data will be out before Thursday’s markets open with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posting its report after the close. Nokia, IBM and Google will also report Thursday with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,

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According to data from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S. rose for the week ended Oct. 9, reflecting ramped up drilling activity by the producers amid recent optimism about commodity price recovery. As shown in the first chart below from Baker Hughes, rigs exploring and producing in the U.S. totaled 1,041 during the week. This is up by 17 from the previous week’s tally and is 19% higher from the 2009 low of 876 (set in the week ended June 12). The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 949 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended Aug. 29 and Sept. 12. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. increased by 14 to 726, ...

Yesterday, one of the largest onshore contract drillers in the U.S., Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (PTEN), declared its Sep 2009 drill rig count to average 81, up from 72 in the previous month. The company operated 77 rigs in the U.S. and 4 in Canada in September, compared to 69 rigs in the U.S. and 3 rigs in Canada during August.  Patterson’s activity levels in the U.S. peaked in early Oct 2008, with a rig count of 275. Since then, the company has been witnessing a steep and rapid decline on the back of decreased demand largely caused by lower commodity prices for natural gas.  Favorable prices over the last few years led to increased natural gas drilling, with the total onshore rig count scoring an all-time high in 2008. As a result, after remaining essentially flat for almost 9 years (1998−2006), natural gas production went up ...