Transocean (RIG) Soars 9.2%: Is Further Upside Left in the Stock?

RIG NBR

Transocean (RIG - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 9.2% higher at $7.01. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 4.7% gain over the past four weeks.

Transocean stock rose for the second straight day after it announced a 16-well binding award for its Transocean Equinox rig in Australia. The contract will add approximately $184 million to the offshore driller’s firm backlog. For investors, the growth in backlog is of utmost importance as it directly influences Transocean's sales, earnings and cash flows. As Transocean secures new contracts, its financial outlook is bolstered, creating a positive trajectory for the company and its stakeholders.

This offshore oil and gas drilling contractor is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.11 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -10%. Revenues are expected to be $724.38 million, up 0.3% from the year-ago quarter.

Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For Transocean, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on RIG going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Transocean is a member of the Zacks Oil and Gas - Drilling industry. One other stock in the same industry, Nabors Industries (NBR - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 0.9% lower at $93.03. NBR has returned 7.2% over the past month.

For Nabors, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -2.6% over the past month to $1.84. This represents a change of +126.3% from what the company reported a year ago. Nabors currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

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