SeaDrill Reaches Global Settlement To Execute Restructuring

After several delays and months of negotiations, SeaDrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) recently announced final restructuring agreement on Feb 26, post which shares of the company rose 10.27% to eventually close at 29 cents. However, shares scaled down more than 6.8% to close at 27 cents on Feb 27.

Being one of the worst sufferers of the downturn and burdened with massive debt, the company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sep 12 to restructure its balance sheet amid volatile oil prices. SeaDrill’s Chapter 11 filing was just another disruption in the offshore drilling industry. Many offshore drilling companies like Ocean Rig UDW LLC., Paragon Offshore, Hercules Offshore, Inc. and Vantage Drilling Company had also filed for bankruptcy protection amid declining oil prices.

The prior restructuring agreement of Seadrill (on Sep 12) had received support from 97% secured bank lenders and 40% of bondholders, with the company planning to raise $1.06 billion of fresh capital.

However, after reaching a global settlement in the Chapter 11 proceedings recently, the restructuring agreement now has the support of 99% secured bank lenders and 70% bondholders. The international offshore drilling company will now witness capital injection of $1.08 billion, which would comprise $880 million of secured loans and $200 million equity. Existing shareholders will receive 1.9% stake in the post-restructuring equity.

Notably, the company has been facing pressure in its top line owing to idle rigs and lower day rates. SeaDrill’s earnings have also been declining over the last five quarters on higher costs and low revenues. However, the restructuring agreement is likely to improve the liquidity position of the company and will provide growth opportunities. SeaDrill, which has one of the youngest and most advanced drilling fleets will be poised to secure more contracts post the restructuring, helping the company to stabilize revenues.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

SeaDrill carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have lost more than 84% over the year, underperforming the broader industry’s decline of 29%.

In fact, the Oil-Gas Drilling industry has been one of the worst sufferers of the downturn, ranking in the bottom 16% of the Zacks classified industries (223 out of 256). Given the bearish numbers, it shouldn't come as a surprise that most of the companies from this space are likely to underperform the market in the near term.

However, a few better-ranked players from the broader energy space include Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) , ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Statoil (OL:STL) ASA (NYSE:STO) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Marathon Petroleum reported an average positive earnings surprise of 182.62% in the trailing four quarters.

ConocoPhillips delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 144.45% in the last four quarters.

Statoil reported an average positive earnings surprise of 23.18% in the trailing four quarters.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>