Diamond Offshore (DO) To Report Q4 Earnings: What's In Store?

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2018 earnings on Feb 11, before the opening bell.

The company managed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last three quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 23.7%. Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Which Way Are Estimates Treading?

Let’s take a look at estimate revisions to get a clear picture of analyst opinion on the stock before the earnings release.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 38 cents for the fourth quarter has been stable in the last seven days. The estimate reflects a year-over-year decline of about 660%.

The consensus estimate for fourth-quarter revenues of $252.3 million indicates a fall of 27.1% from the year-ago quarter.

Factors to Consider

Through fourth-quarter 2018, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude plunged from a multi-year high of $76.40 a barrel early last October to below $45 in late December, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The overall decline in the commodity price will likely be unfavorable for Diamond Offshore as contract drilling businesses are positively correlated with crude price. Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues related to the company’s contract drilling activities is pegged at $247 million, lower than $338 million in the year-ago and $281 million in the preceding quarter.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not show that Diamond Offshore is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP for the company is -5.65% as the Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at a loss of 40 cents, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is at a loss of 38 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Diamond Offshore carries a Zacks Rank #3, which when combined with an Earnings ESP of -5.65%, lowers the possibility of an earnings surprise.

Stocks Poised to Beat Estimates

Here are a few firms that you may want to consider on the basis of our model. These have the right combination of elements to beat estimates this quarter.

Ensco plc (NYSE:ESV) , a leading offshore contract driller, has an Earnings ESP of +1.77% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) , a leading refiner, has an Earnings ESP of +7.74% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Sunoco L.P (NYSE:SUN) operates as a motor fuel distributor. The company has an Earnings ESP of +1.56% and sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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