Bristow Group Inc.

Bristow Group Inc. (BRS - Snapshot Report) has surprised on estimates 3 out of the last 4 quarters by an average of 10.50%. The company is trading at 11.7x forward earnings.

Company Description

Bristow Group is one of the largest providers of helicopter services in the world. Its primary customers are in the offshore energy industry in the North Sea, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Russia and Trinidad. The company provides transportation, maintenance and search and rescue services.

Bristow Surprised by 39.39%

On Nov 4, Bristow Group reported its fiscal second quarter and surprised on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 26 cents per share. Earnings per share rose 19.5% to 92 cents from 77 cents in the year ago period. Analysts were expecting just 66 cents.

Revenue was virtually unchanged from the second quarter of 2008 at $291.6 million compared to $291.7 million in 2008.

While the operating environment is still challenging in the energy industry, the company saw good operating results in Latin America, Nigeria and Australia during the quarter.

In Australia, the company won new business from several customers and also implemented cost cutting measures which boosted results. Nigeria is also a challenge because of the political environment.

Results in the Gulf of Mexico also fell from the previous quarter but the company said it wasn't as impacted as some of its competitors due to an upgrade in its air fleet which allowed it to serve projects further offshore in deeper water.

Bristow is expecting a turnaround in the energy industry, and therefore its business, by next year.

Zacks Consensus Estimates Jump

Given the big beat in the fiscal second quarter, covering analysts have been scrambling to raise estimates.

The fiscal third quarter Zacks Consensus is up 2 cents in the last week to 70 cents per share. The fiscal 2010 consensus also rose to $2.94 from $2.84 per share in the last 7 days with 2 out of 8 analysts raising during that time.

Value Fundamentals

Bristow Group is a Zacks #1 Rank (strong buy) stock. It has a price-to-book of 0.93. The company has a solid 5-year average return on equity (ROE) of 11.86%.

Read the full analyst report on BRS