72% contract drilling margins. $10.6B backlog. Sub 12% debt to capitalization ratio.

Oil Driller

Buy - Price 22.21 on March 3
by Jesup & Lamont

Noble [has reported] rig-delivery delays, increased down days, and three jackups stacked in Western Africa... .We are lowering our '09 earnings estimate to $6 from $6.50 a share...[and] 2010E to $5.60 from $6.40 a share... .Noble is a leading provider of domestic and international offshore-drilling services....[The] earnings multiple is eight times '10E-earnings, yielding a new target of 44.80 (down from 51.20). As NE was trading [near 22], or 3.7 times current '09 earnings estimates, the upside potential justifies our Buy rating. Noble has a [reasonable] debt-to-equity ratio of 0.149... .Its 16-cents-a-share annual [dividend] yields 0.8%....We would highly recommend NE for growth over the next few years. Market cap: $6 billion.

low p/e, exceptional debt to capital ratio, well managed

Najarian highlighted some unusual call options activity in Noble(NE), Jabil Circuit(JBL) and UnitedHealth Group(UNH).

The investment in the Baltimore-based asset manager reflects a significant rebalancing out of the fund's profitable energy exposure -- which had peaked at 15% early this year, and included FMC Technologies (FTI), Noble (NE), and Smith International (SII) -- into financials. Since the spring, Sloan also has added People's United Financia l (PBCT), Moody's Investor Service (MCO) and Progressive (PGR) as part of boosting his weighting in financials from 5% to 15%.

cause of the oil boom is excelente for oil services companies

sold out as far as far as eye the eye can see

TP $66.00

energy