Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) – North America’s largest onshore oil and natural gas driller – yesterday reported marginally weaker-than-expected third quarter results on the back of lower rig demand, as producers continued to scale back operations in the midst of falling commodity prices. Earnings per share, excluding non-cash items, came in at 15 cents, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny.   Revenue & Profitability   Compared to the third quarter of 2008, Nabors’ adjusted earnings per share declined 77.6% (from 67 cents to 15 cents) due to persistent weakness in its North American gas-centric businesses combined with less robust international results. Revenues were down 44.2% to $804 million as sales declined in all of the company’s segments.   Nabors’ main operating segment is ‘Contract Drilling’, which accounts for bulk of the company’s revenues and operating earnings. Its operations are spread across 6 sub-segments: U.S. Lower 48 ...

The past 18 months have taken a serious toll on normal supply and demand in many industries. But no industry was impacted more than energy…

Oil peaked at $147 per barrel in July 2008 — right before the house of cards came crashing down on the global economy. Once banks started to fail and credit dried up, other businesses slowed production and laid off workers. This created a massive trickle effect on the overall economy.

Big corporations and individual consumers alike were using less energy. That meant the prices of every energy-related commodity plummeted.

This spring, things started to turn around… The unemployment rate quit falling at such a rapid rate. Inventories were too low in many industries, creating a ramp up in production again. Energy prices climbed…

Since the start of this year, the price of crude oil has nearly doubled. In just the last six months, heating oil jumped as much as

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Yesterday, Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) – North America's largest onshore oil and natural gas driller – reported second-quarter results. Recurring earnings per diluted share, excluding non-cash items, came in at $0.32, marginally better than our estimate of $0.31 and well above market expectations of $0.26. The Bermuda-based company’s outperformance was driven by strengthened margins associated with new rig deployments in its international operations and solid results from the Alaska sub-segment.  However, on a year-over-year basis, Nabors’ adjusted earnings per share declined 46.7% (from $0.60 to $0.32) due to weakness in its North American gas-centric businesses combined with less robust international results, particularly in Latin America. Revenue was down 32.6% to $878 million as sales declined in almost all of the company’s segments.  Nabors’ main operating segment is ‘Contract Drilling’, which accounts for bulk of the company’s revenues and operating earnings. Its operations are spread across 6 ...